


The smallest Avenger

by katbux



Category: Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom, Captain America: The Civil War, Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: -Ish, Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Broken Team, Broken Team Dynamics, Civil War Team Iron Man, Crack, De-Aged Tony Stark, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Everybody Lives, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Humor, Jealous Stephen Strange, Kid Tony Stark, M/M, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Ships It, Peter Ships It, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Stephen Strange, Restored Avengers, Snap reversed, Thanos is defeated, jealous Stephen, may ships it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2019-08-21 18:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 73,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16581557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katbux/pseuds/katbux
Summary: Thanos was defeated. The survivors were able to get back the Gauntlet and reverse the Snap. Everything is fine, or is it?What happened to the old hurts and distrust?They are still there of course. But Steve is stubborn, he wants the Avengers back together, but Tony cannot forget that easily.But what if someone took away all that hurt and bad memories? What if instead of a grown-up there was a child Tony instead?





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey Tones! Do you wanna watch a movie with us?” Tony’s breath hitches just a little bit every time he hears that voice. Losing Peter on Titan broke him, but when he returned back to Earth and found out Pepper is also gone, it almost killed him. Rhodey was all he had, the only one he could talk to, only one who cared whether he lived or died, but… there was always this little but… apparently while Tony was in space with Strange and the kid, Rhodey decided it is fine to welcome back Rogers and his merry band of traitors.

“Kind of busy, maybe later. Thanks” he tries not to show his bitterness. Everyone is acting like the Civil war never happened. Yes, they defeated Thanos and returned all those taken by the soul stone, but it doesn’t mean everything is suddenly okay. Tony is certainly not okay, Pepper returned only to break up with him again, Rhodey glued himself to Wilson’s side and if Tony didn’t know Rhodey is straight he would be convinced the two of them are fucking and Vision follows Wanda like a lovesick puppy. The worst thing is, that the world sees Rogers as a hero again and the UN is tripping over itself to cater to his every wish. His wish being, that the Avengers are reinstated and all of them bond as a team by living together. The day they told him he needs to live with them in the Compound and ‘bond’ with them, was one of the worst in Tony’s life. It was also the first time in 5 years he’s got drunk.

“Come on man, you can’t hide in your cave forever. We have pizza!”

“I told you I am busy, can’t you just leave me fucking alone?!” he can’t help it, he lashes out. He just CAN’T! Can’t sit there pretending everything is fine, can’t listen to their laughter while he sits there trying to stop a panic attack every time he looks at Rogers or the witch. He wishes he could turn back time, he wishes he never heard of Steve Grant Rogers or the Avengers.

“Fuck you Tony! Stop playing the victim, Thanos is gone, the team is back, we saved everyone. Everyone is moving on, the only one ruining it is you, you do not even try to forgive, all you do is lock yourself up in this fucking workshop and drink all day. I thought you grew up, but no! You’re the same selfish prick you were after you returned from Iraq. I had enough!” Rhodey storms out and Tony doesn’t even try to stop him, all he can do is to slide down against the wall and try his best to hold back desperate tears at the sight of his last friend leaving him.

“Hey Boss, maybe…”

“Not now FRI, leave me alone. Mute.” there, not even his A.I. can talk to him now, he is alone, as he always was….

 

“Hey, where did you leave Tony?” Steve asks the moment Rhodey returns to the common room. He is lying on the couch, Bucky snuggled into his chest. Those two finally pulled their heads out of their super soldier asses and confessed how much they love each other. Like it was not clear as a day to everyone except the two of them. Apparently all they needed was one of them truly dying in front of the other’s eyes to give them the courage. Now they were inseparable, making out all over the Compound, almost never leaving each other’s sight, they were almost disgustingly sweet.

“He won’t come, said he has work to do.”

“Again? Come on Rhodey we all know he is lying, he is avoiding us!”

“Yeah, I know, but what do you expect me to do about it? I tried to talk to him, I tried hanging out with him, but I can’t force him.”

“Rhodey is right” Sam pipes in “Stark has a lot of shit on his plate, we need to give him more time. We need to show him that he is welcome amongst us and not force him and he will eventually come back.”

“Uuuu, all listen to Mr. Psychology here, he knows best!” Clint mocks, carrying a huge bowl of popcorn and a soda, while Steve tries to shove Bucky off of his chest “I will go talk to him.”

“You won’t do no such thing doll. Lie down and let us enjoy the movie, Wilson is right, he will come when he will be ready to come.” Steve doesn’t like it, he knows it is mainly he himself who Tony doesn’t want to see, he screwed up, royally so, he knows that now, but every time he tried to make it up to him, every time he tried to talk to him, Tony ran. With a heavy sigh he nods and shoves his hands under the blanket grabbing handfuls of Bucky’s ass, that ass always makes him feel better.

 

It is morning and the newly re-formed Avengers slowly start streaming into the main kitchen. It became their habit, having breakfast together, every since they defeated Thanos. Everyone who is in the Compound at the moment comes, except Tony, he never joins.

Steve and Sam are already back from their morning run preparing bacon and omelettes, while Bucky and Rhodey just wake up and are still sleeping a bit. Natasha and Clint left during the night, helping Fury with something super secret, while Wanda and Vision were gone on one of their ‘exploring’ trips and should be gone at least 3 more days. Bruce is slowly sipping his herbal concoction and reading the Times while Thor shovels in an impressive pile of Pop-Tarts into his mouth. Thor… changed since defeating Thanos, the loss he suffered, losing his home, people, brother… it left its mark on him, he no longer smiled so brightly, did not laugh as loud as he used to. Especially after they reversed Thanos’ snap and Loki did not come back, he was not taken by the soulstone after all.

Bucky plants a kiss on Steve’s shoulder and steals his cup of coffee, slowly moving to the table. One by one the others join in, until only Tony is missing, but that is nothing unusual. What is unusual is Tony’s A.I. FRIDAY interrupting their meal.

“Mr. Rhodes, if I may.”

“What is it FRI? Does Tony need something from me?”

“No, Boss did not call you, it’s me, could you please come to Boss’ bedroom immediately? There is a situation that I have no protocol for.”

Rhodey jumps up immediately, he is feeling guilty for yelling at him yesterday, Tony is his best friend, his brother and what he said was really unfair. Anthony Stark is the least selfish person on Earth, he proved that million times.

“Is he alright? Do I need to get my gear?”

“No, there is no danger, I think, but please hurry.”

Steve follows as well, he is really concerned about Tony and this might be good opportunity to see him without the A.I. blocking him up. Others, upon seeing their Captain joining, follow as well.

They run half of the way, silently cursing Tony for picking the bedroom farthest from the common area. They get there, Rhodey almost tears the door off of its hinges and then… freezes. Tony is not there, instead there is a small boy, maybe 3 years old sitting on the bed and rubbing his eyes.

“What the hell FRIDAY?! Who is this?”

“The DNA screens I did indicate that this is Boss just… small” the A.I. answers hesitantly, but Rhodey is only half listening because at his yell the little boy startled and noticed them for the first time. He is small, scrawny even, with thick bangs and giant soft brown eyes full of rising panic. It happens almost like in a movie, everything slows down, the boy’s eyes grow impossibly larger as he takes in all the adults filling the doorway, the moment Rhodey takes just one small step forward the kid, he panics. A sharp frightened cry makes them cringe and with almost unnatural speed the kid jumps out of the bed and runs through the balcony door outside. And so the chase begins….

 

Tony runs as quickly as his little feet will allow. He woke up in a strange room and then noticed the grown ups looking at him and there was a lot of them and they were very scary. He didn’t know them, didn’t know where he is or where is his Mommy….

He’s got scared, even though Daddy always says he shouldn’t get scared, Starks are never afraid, Daddy says so. But Tony is afraid, very very much. What if they want to hurt him? What if he is never going to see Mommy again? Or Jarvis? He can’t hold back a sniffle. He runs through the gardens hoping to see someone familiar, he avoids the open spreads of grass, trying to hide behind some bushes, but he does not have any shoes and it hurts. He can hear shouting, the bad men are chasing him! He knows they are bad, he can’t feel it! They will hurt him for sure! But Tony is tired, so so tired….

He rounds the house and notices a big boy coming in. The boy looks silly, he is singing and dancing as he walks up to the door. Tony giggles a little and decides to ask for help, he is not afraid of the boy, he decides to trust him. “Ugh, hewwo” he runs out of the bush where he was hiding “pweashe hewp? Imma woshth and and bad men chashing and I wanth mommyyy” he bursts into tears again, unable to hold it back anymore.

Peter skids into a halt at the first sight of a little boy running out of the bushes. The boy is barefoot, dressed in ripped pyjamas and covered in scratches. Peter can’t drop his backpack quick enough, he rips off his hoodie and wraps the boy into it. Two small arms wrap itself around his neck, almost choking him and loud cry rings in his ear, he probably won’t hear on his left ear ever again. Despite his own discomfort, and the kid is now rubbing his snot covered face into his neck, ewww, he picks him up and hugs close. His eyes scanning the surroundings, he did not miss the bad men chasing me comment, while he tries to calm the child down.

“Hey, shhh, everything is alright now. I’m here, I won’t let anyone to hurt you. shhh, everything is okay…” he repeats in what hopes is a calming voice, while rubbing the small, shaking back. The kid is breaking his heart, when he’ll find who did this to him, they will pay.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve rounds the corner at the full speed, he can hear the crying child and is doing his best to get there as soon as possible, who knows what could happen to him. He can hear the others right behind him when he rounds the building and stops, exhaling in relief. Peter Parker, Tony’s… protege?... is standing right there, holding the child in his arms. Steve can hear matching sighs of relief behind him as Bucky leans against his shoulder.

“Hello guys! Look what I found! A baby! He is saying some bad men are chasing him. Did you find them? Damn, people like that should be shot, scaring such a cute little angel.” he swings the boy left and right, planting a gentle kiss on the soft hair. The boy’s head is still buried in his neck, so he does not see the Avengers, but his sobs started to quiet down a little. Peter ignores their dumbfounded expression and continues his babbling “Hell Dr. Banner, don’t go all Hulk on me, but the kid is covered in scratches, he had to run through the bushes. Can you help him? I know you’re not a doctor doctor, but Mr. Stark always says you used to help patch him up after battles and well, if it is good for Mr. Stark, I’m sure it will be good enough for this little tyke.”

Bruce had several major shocks in last few minutes, he is barely holding the Hulk back, only Tony’s safety in such a vulnerable state is helping him to keep the Other guy down. Thor sees his friend’s struggle and tries to explain for him “Do not fret little warrior. The child you hold is Anthony, Son of Stark, I’m sure Banner’s potions…”

“Tony has a son?! He never told me! Why didn’t he tell me?!” he yells excitedly, he pulls the boy from his shoulder and holds him in front of his eyes. “Hey sweety” he smiles into those big wondering eyes, he can see the resemblance now. “Where is Daddy? I am his friend, I will help you find him.”

“I do’t kwnow, imma woshth” the boy sounds so cute and sad, that the awwws are fully justified, even from such hardened warriors like the Avengers. The boy startles at the sound, realizing that he and his saviour are no longer alone, he whips his head around, almost making Peter drop him. He starts to wail the moment he sees Bruce, now slowly inching closer to examine the cuts Peter mentioned. “No! Noooo, bad, bad men, huwt! They huwt Tony, noooooo.”

“They... they hurt you?” Peter is horrified, he quickly pulls the boy back towards him and takes few steps back, eyes never leaving the Avengers around him. He is ready, the smallest movement and he will web them and run. “What did you do to him?! Where is Mr. Stark?!” he asks accusingly, he can feel the boy tremble against his chest, if looks could kill all of them would be already dead.

“Listen Pete” Rhodey starts. They became kind of friends after their defeat of the purple space grape. They bonded over their shared love and concern for one Tony Stark, so he has a better chance to get to him than let’s say Steve. Peter positively loathes Steve, did ever since the Civil War. “It is not Tony’s child you’re holding in your hands, it’s Tony. We found him like that in the morning and FRIDAY confirmed it’s really him via DNA match. He’s got scared and ran, but we didn’t hurt him, we would never.”

“Tony? But… how? Who? Why?”

“Yeah, that’s what we want to know too kid” Steve had enough of being ignored, he is taking over the situation. “But he ran, he just saw us and ran, we’re chasing him ever since. We didn’t even have a chance to look through his room and lab for clues. Let’s go inside and talk about it, I’m sure me must be hungry.” He comes closer to the teenager, looking into the face of the child, who is now looking at him distrustfully from the safety of Peter’s arms.

It is as if Tony senses Peter’s wavering, he lifts his head and looks into his eyes. “Pease no, bad man” he points to Steve “Tony scawed” The heartbreak is clearly visible on the Captain’s face. All these months since the Snap, all those late nights and battles fought and Tony is still afraid if him, still thinks of him as a ‘bad man’. Steve understands, Tony might not know who they are, but on some level, he knows that they hurt him, that he can’t trust them.

“Don’t be scared sweety,” Peter can’t seem to stop planting small pecks on the top of Tony’s little head. “I won’t let anyone touch you okay? No one will hurt you, I swear. But we should go inside, I bet you’re cold and hungry.”

“Pwomise you won leaf me?” the child holds Peter’s face in his small hands, making him look into his eyes. Despite the young age and missing memories, the eyes look sad, too sad for a child this young. It is breaking Peter’s poor heart.

“I promise and while we eat I will call my friend. I’m sure he will help us too. You will like him, he is called Stephen”

“Fteee-en?” the boy asks, clearly confused.

“Uh-huh, he is a wizard!” he tries to infuse his voice with as much enthusiasm as possible, ignoring the groans sounding all around. He knows that the often arrogant Sorcerer Supreme is not the Avengers’ favorite, but Tony likes him and Pete has a suspicion that there might be ‘something more’ between them.

“Wizawd? Balloons?” the kid’s eyes light up at the prospect.

“I’m sure he can magic up some balloons if you ask him nicely and you know what?”

“Wat?”

“Bruce will make us some pancakes while we wait, what do you say?” Peter asks, pointing at the mentioned Avenger. He needs Tony to trust Bruce if he wants him to treat his wounds and what better way to start building that trust than through the perfect sweetness of pancakes?

Little Tony studies Bruce carefully and his conclusion? “Yay pancakes!” he throws his arms into the air and Peter can’t help himself, he plants a little kiss on that perfect little nose. Little Tony is just pure cuteness overload.

 

Peter stays with Tony while Bruce cooks (with help of Steve, because they all know that Bruce is a horrible cook), trying to distract him while the others interrogate FRIDAY. They even make her play a recording of Tony, clearly drunk, stumbling into the bed around 2 AM last night and then fast forward it to the moment when he changed. There is nothing on the tape, one minute there is an adult lying in that bed and before you can blink there is only a small child, no flash, no mysterious figure, nada.

“It must be magic” Peter says from the sofa, Tony sits on his knees, playing with Peter’s keychain, he has a little Spiderman flashlight on it that Tony likes.

“Magic? What kind of magic?” Rhodey asks, little exasperated. Tony refused to go to him, his best friend, he was labeled as a ‘bad man’ together with the rest of the Avengers and that stings.

“How would I know” Peter shrugs “but in the Avengers fanfiction I read it is always magic, that’s why I want to call Dr. Strange.”

“What the hell is fanfiction?” Bucky asks, he’s been unfrozen and revived for months, but he had better things to do (Steve) than catching up with modern slang. 

“Oh Mr. Bucky, you don’t know what fanfiction is? I can show you if you want!” Peter is suddenly excited, extremely so and it makes warning bells sound inside the former Winter Soldier’s head, especially when Wilson adds his two cents: “NO! You will not Peter!” he turns to Bucky “trust me pal, you don’t want to know, people are weird these days.”

Peter wants to argue more, but they are interrupted by Bruce bringing in a plate with golden, blueberry pancakes covered in sirup.

“Wow Cap, they look perfect. You’re ready to get married” Sam clasps the taller man’s shoulder and winks at Bucky. Both the super soldiers suddenly find the ground utterly interesting, their necks completely red.

Luckily little Tony did not hear that comment, he might not eat them knowing their are from Cap and not Bruce, his eyes are fixated on the blueberry goodness.

“Buu-bewwy, Tony luuuvs buu-bewwys” little arms already reaching for the plate. Yeah, Steve knows, that’s why he added them.

“Bruce is gonna feed you okay sweety?” they did not have any cutlery for small children as far Peter knew and the sirup looked extremely sticky, he could already see himself covered by it from head to toe.

“Okay” Tony rests his back against Pete and opens his mouth widely to show he is ready to be fed.

Bruce can’t suppress a chuckle at the sight of Tony waiting like a baby bird. He quickly cuts off a small piece, makes sure it is properly covered in sirup and sticks it into the waiting mouth.

“Yummy” Tony bounces and claps his pudgy little hands, melting their hearts on the spot.

 

The pancakes were a raging success, little Tony even smiled at Bruce a little bit when he praised him how much he’s eaten, so Peter feels confident enough to leave Tony to Bruce to clean his scratches and moves a bit away to call Strange. He makes sure Tony can still see him, he does not want to scare him by suddenly disappearing on him.

The doctor picks up on second ring:

“Who is this?”

“Hello Dr. Strange, it’s me, Peter, I mean Spiderman…”

“I know who you are.” Peter can almost hear the eye roll through the line. “What do you want?”

“Well Mr. Stark gave me your number, for state of emergencies you see. I mean when he is not available, as a safety precaution.”

“Yes, I am aware. What did you do and where is Tony?”

“Why people always assume that it was me who did something wrong! Really people, you should have more trust in me, I mean comparing to you guys…”

“PETER!”

“Rude, man! God, well this seems like an emergency to me and Tony is somewhat… indisposed right now, so I’m calling you.”   
There is a heavy, weary sigh from the other side of the line and the doctor asks quietly: Is he… is he drunk again?”

“What? No! NO! He is not drunk, he is just a BABY!”

“What did you just say? He is a what now?”

“A baby! Well toddler, he looks about 3 years old, maybe a bit younger and I know, that you… I thought you’d like to know and that maybe you can help.” Peter finishes his tone uncertain. He was so sure that calling Stephen is the right thing to do, but now… he is kind of rude and Peter doesn’t want him to scare Little Tony.

“Where are you Peter? Tell me!”

“We… we are at the Avenger’s compound.” the line goes dead as soon as he says that.

 

Little Tony is absolutely oblivious to the phone call or the other men watching him. His eyes trained on every move of Bruce’s big hands. Bruce examines him, cleaning and taping every scratch he can find, ending with the biggest one on the kid’s forearm.

Tony taps the beige band aid Bruce just applied there and asks “No Cap?”

Steve whips around from the kitchen where he just took the empty plate (Thor finished what Tony left behind in two big bites).

“What is it sweetheart?” Bruce tries to clarify what he heard.

“Mommy gifs Cap stickies” the boy explains pouting a little as he looks at the plain tape.

“We can get one with Cap later if you want?” Steve asks hesitant, but hopeful. It is clear to all of them how bothered he is by the boy’s fear of him, maybe if he knew he is Captain America…. The boy frowns at him suspiciously beneath his bangs, not answering so Rhodey tries his two cents “Or we could get ones with Iron man, what do you say?”

“Who Iwon man?”

And that is when Peter comes back to the sofa “Iron man? Only the best Superhero ever! Well after Spiderman of course. I will show you later, Stephen is coming.”

As if on clue, orange sparkles appear in the middle of the living room, quickly extending into a circle. The man known as the Sorcerer Supreme walks through, curious eyes landing directly at the small boy standing on the sofa watching him with undisguised awe, mouth forming a perfect O.

“Ftee-en!” the boy jumps down and runs directly towards the man, grabbing him around right calf. “HI, HI FTEE-EN. I TONY! BALLOON, BALLOON DOGGIE PWEAAASE?!” he tugs at his pants, almost causing them to slip down.

There is a loud thump, Peter fell off of the sofa, he was laughing so hard, but he could not help it! The look on Strange’s face was perfect! Peter just hoped FRIDAY caught it properly, so he can set it up as his new screen-saver.

The sorcerer is looking down at the kid and then back to the gathered Avengers with apparent shock. He is barely holding his pants up when he feels a sharper tug and looks down, the kid just attempted to climb him like a tree. He decides to take the boy into his arms to protect his dignity.

“Hello.” is all he can think of saying. The child continues to yell, repeating something over and over, but Stephen just doesn’t understand his garbled speech. “What does he want?” he desperately turns to the gathered men.

“A...a balloon dog from a wizard” says Wilson with a burst of laughter and joins Parker on the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Stephen is flabbergasted, when Peter said Tony is a baby he did not expect… well an actual baby. He is holding the boy in front of him at arm’s length to avoid those excitedly kicking legs, studying him. But either Tony has a son he never spoke of before and Stephen is sure he would know if that would be the case by now, or this is truly him, really those perfect doe eyes are dead give away. Stephen would recognize them anywhere, he has a tendency to stare at Tony’s face late at night, even if it is just on his phone. He always considered Tony a pompous idiot, someone who cannot live without having attention of everyone in the room, but that was before Stephen had his accident, back when they sometimes met on a charity dinner or a gallery opening. It was before he knew the real Tony Stark.

They spent quite a lot of time together in the months after the Avengers reversed the Snap, Tony fell into a habit of coming to the Sanctum asking all about the magic and how it works. Slowly the talks steered from magic to things more mundane, books, movies, favorite places until one day Stephen realized that the affection he feels towards the genius is a bit more than friendship. 

  
He pulls the still babbling boy closer “I’m sorry bunny, but I do not know how to make a balloon animal.”

“Oh.” the sound is so small, but he can clearly see the child’s shoulders drop in disappointment, he could hit whoever told him he would make him one. He tries to cheer him up “But I can do this” he moves his hands and a small, as if hand drawn dog made of orange sparkles appears and runs a few circles around his hand.

“Yay pwetty” Tony approves and reaches out one pudgy hand to touch it. His hand goes right through “No touchy?” he asks sadly and Stephen knows it was not good enough.

Peter stopped laughing and is standing next to them “How about we take him to the park? We can buy a balloon doggie there. With your portals we can be there in a minute.” He feels guilty, it was he who promised a balloon when he knew Stephen can’t make one just appear. Tony sometimes allowed him to join when he was testing Stephen’s magic, so he has a good grasp on what the sorcerer can and can’t do.

Stephen wants to protest, it is quite cold outside and Tony is wearing only pyjama bottoms and what seems to be Peter’s hoodie, but before he can even open his mouth, Rogers intervenes: “We shouldn’t take him anywhere yet. We still don’t know what happened to him.”

Favorite books and movies were not the only things they’ve discussed. It took many weeks for Tony to open up and it wasn’t until Stephen spoke about his accident, but he knew the full extent of what happened for the Avengers to ‘break up’. Psychology was one of his favorite subjects and Tony fascinated him, so week by week, talk after talk he tried to get the whole picture and tried to help him cope with it, at least little bit.

“Locking someone in here won’t help solve anything” he snarks back and it is clear that he is not talking about this mess, but about the fact that Rogers basically forced Tony to live here with them. He can see the frown on the Captain’s face, but he purposely ignores it and turns to Peter “We can’t take him outside yet. He is not dressed properly and I don’t want him to get ill. FRIDAY could you order some clothes for him? And other things a child this age needs?”

“Already done doctor, the supplies are on their way in, ETA 15 minutes.”

Great! Now he just needs to figure out which Avengers can be trusted with Tony while he is going to check his room, he doesn’t want to take Little Tony with him in case there is something dangerous there and Peter is just not enough, not against all of them. Rogers and Wilson are out, Barnes too at least for now, even though he knows Tony doesn’t hate him, not anymore. Rhodes… well, HE doesn’t like Rhodes even if Tony loves him like a brother, part of it is his own jealousy, he can admit that, but part of it is how chummy he is with Wilson now. And that leaves him with Banner and Thor, luckily the others are not present.

“Thor, can you take care of Tony while I go to his room and have a look around? Dr. Banner, maybe you could show me the way?” He can see the surprise on their faces, but decides to ignore it and turns back to Tony, who clings to his neck with one hand tangled in his beard. “Listen Tony. Bruce and I will be right back, could you wait with Thor and Peter? We can go to the park after and I will get you that balloon doggie okay?”

It is visible that Tony is reluctant to leave Stephen, his little nose scrunches up, eyes getting almost impossibly big. “Tony go wif Ftee-en.”

“No bunny, you can’t, it is only for grown ups. But I promise we will be away for only few minutes.” He can see Tony dislikes the idea, but luckily Thor is there “Would you like a ride on my shoulders young Anthony?” And that’s enough to get Tony to leave Stephen and go eagerly into Thor’s waiting arms. He looks even smaller next to those bulging muscles.

Stephen does not hesitate, he grabs Banner and pulls him towards Tony’s room as quickly as possible. Bruce lets him, but cannot stop himself from asking “So you apparently don’t need me to show you the way. Come here often? I never saw you here before.”

Stephen doesn’t deem it worthy of an answer, if Tony did not mention to Bruce they’re friends, he won’t. He is not sure what to think of Bruce, Tony doesn’t talk about him much outside of the experiments they’re doing together in their labs or an offhand comment here and there about how distant he and Thor are since the Snap reversal.

“I took you with me because I want to hear your version of the story. You’re a man of science, used to observe his surrounding and create a hypothesis, but first let me have a look at the room.”

Stephen looks carefully around, there is no magical energy he can feel or any magical objects, but it's true that his skills in this area are somewhat limited. He decides to ask Wong for help, quickly opening a portal and explaining what happened.

He ignores Wong's knowing look once he finds out who is the affected Avenger. Wong brings some obscure artifact Stephen never heard of, it looks like a long golden antenna and runs the room over with it. Once he gets to the pillow of Tony's bed the antenna starts to vibrate and a green mist appears above it. 

“This is definitely the source, the pillow was infused with magic, so once he touched it the magic started its work.”

“Do you know how to reverse it?”

“It is a different type of magic from ours, so I can’t tell you the counter spell from the top of my head, but I heard of this kind of spell before. It always reversed on its own.”

“But we can’t rely on something you heard somewhere! This is Tony we're talking about!” He can’t control his outburst, despite Wong's glare, his Tony was affected and it was by magic, magic is his thing, he should be able to do something! He runs hands through his hair making them stand a little bit on the ends.

“Hey, it will be okay. I promise” Wong lays his heavy hand on his back. “But to be hundred percent sure, I will take these readings with me to Kamar-Taj and I will study them and any possible reversal spells. You can stay here and make sure he is okay.”

“Thanks buddy.”

“There is one thing you forgot at the Sanctum” says Wong while creating a new portal for himself. Before Stephen can ask what, the portal is opened and a red blur speeds through wrapping itself around his neck.

“Okay, okay sorry, I'm sorry” great, now the Cloak will be clingy for days. It hated when it didn’t know where he is or when he suddenly disappeared.  Once he finally manages to uncurl it from his face, Wong is gone and there is only amused Dr. Banner in the room.

“So you won’t need my observation skills after all.”

“On the contrary, just because we know that the spell was in the pillow, doesn't mean we know who or why they did it. So tell me, is there an enemy who could get here unnoticed or uses green tinged magic? This type of magic is not usually used on Earth, you were in Space, can’t you think of someone who would be able to do it and holds a grudge for Stark?”

“No, I can't.” Bruce glares at him, knowing very well who he is implying “The only person I know who would fit is dead and I warn you not to mention his name, especially in front of his brother or there will be Hell to pay.”

“Are you sure he is dead? He is known to…”

“ENOUGH!” Bruce's angry shout stops him in his tracks, especially when he notices the green flickering in his eyes.

“Okay” he raises his hands, palms up front as if it would help against raging Hulk “there is no need to get angry, if you say he is dead he is.”

“Good” the way how he switches from almost hulking out to looking cool as a cucumber is utterly terrifying.

“I guess we can head back now.” Stephen is suddenly very eager to not be alone with the demure scientist.

“Sure and you can tell me how long are you and Tony together along the way.”

“We’re not together!” Stephen stutters, is he really that obvious with his infatuation that others noticed and assumed they are together? He can’t let that happen, Tony would be so mad.

“Really? It sure looks like it. You’re awfully overreacting for being concerned about 'a friend’” he even makes the 'I'm sarcastic gesture’ with his hands the little prick. If Bruce Banner wasn't the Hulk he would find himself portaled somewhere far far away. But as he is, all Stephen can do is to storm away, at least the Cloak is on his side and is waving behind him majestically to add the required flare.

 

He stops the moment he gets back into the Common room, Peter is nowhere to be seen and Tony is sitting on Thor's lap. What stops him is the wave of anger and protectiveness upon seeing Rogers sitting next to Thor, playing Itsy Bitsy Spider with Tony. It looks like Tony is no longer afraid of the Captain, because both are laughing and singing from the top of their lungs. He knows he is the only one except Rogers and Tony to know the full extent of what happened in Siberia, but they all know that Tony avoids Steve like a plague and they just let him play with him?! Stephen has to collect all his restraint not to storm there and rip him out of their hands. Only the fact that it would scare the boy keeping him back.

“FRIDAY! Where is Peter?” Peter would never allow this.

“Pete went to help the delivery people to bring the things I ordered for Boss in. Mr. Barnes went with him.”

Damn you Peter and your soft heart! He knows the kid means good, but he is too trusting! He probably thought that the Rouges would not dare to do anything under FRIDAY's watchful eyes. “And why didn’t YOU do anything to prevent this?” Stephen's tone is accusing, but he has a right to be. She should know better, Peter is just a kid, easily manipulated but FRIDAY isn’t.

Upon hearing his question, the gathered men looked curiously his way. “Ftee-en!” It was gratifying to see Little Tony rip himself out of Thor's arms and run to him. He gathers the boy and lifts him up into a loose hug. Tony just sighs, contempt “Ftee-en” and buries closer. He sounds like Stephen was away 3 hours, not 10 minutes. Once he had the child cuddled in his arms, he turns his angry gaze to the rest of them.

“How dare you Rogers” he says in his coldest, most snobbish voice. It is the one he uses for the most rude and incompetent retail workers. Its message clear 'I'm better than you and I know it and you just pissed me off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope there is not too many typos in here, I wrote most of this chapter on my phone, so if you find some do let me know.  
> Thx
> 
> Btw  
> Itsy Bitsy spider game - I'm not sure if that is a thing, I meant a game where you sing with a child and play with his hands/fingers at the same time in line with the song.


	4. Chapter 4

Stephen can hear the surprised gasps, but his eyes stay firmly on Rogers. He is not afraid of the man, but he needs to remain cautious, he knows how fast he is.

Rogers jumps out of the couch and starts towards him. Stephen immediately turns himself  so Tony is shielded by his body and creates a shield “Stay away or I’ll make you!”

“What are you doing man? Steve is no threat to Tony, they were just playing!” it’s Wilson who breaks the silent stand-off.

“They were just playing you’re right, but that doesn’t mean that he is no threat.” he barks back, eyes never leaving the Captain “I will not allow you to use his current state to get the forgiveness you know you don’t deserve. Tony doesn’t want you anywhere near him.”

Something akin to hurt flies through Rogers’ eyes, but he quickly hides it away. His voice is quiet, but they can hear it clearly even through Wilson’s sputtering “How do you know that?”

“You really think that just because you didn’t tell to your lackeys we don’t know what happened in Siberia? That we don’t know you tried to kill him?” and that’s Peter, running back to the room, undoubtedly allerted by FRIDAY, placing himself between Stephen’s shield and Rogers. The boy’s face, usually full of kindness and joy is contorted in fury. Tony never told him what happened there, but Peter knows the truth. He knew it was something terrible, something that shook the man he considered his hero to the core. So he did what any resourceful teenager would, he snooped and Karen helped. He found out that his and the Iron Man suits are always recording and all feeds are stored by FRIDAY. So he asked her for the feed from that day and to his surprise, she did show him. “You think we don’t know that the only reason he is here is because you forced him to?”

Shocked silence follows, the room is now clearly divided, on one side is Strange, holding quietly whimpering Tony with Peter shielding them, on the other is Rogers flanked by Barnes and Wilson, the other three stand to the side watching them.

The tension could be cut by a knife when Rhodes steps forward, eyes trained on Peter and asks: “What do you mean by tried to kill him?” his voice breaks at the end and for the first time Stephen realizes, that maybe he judged him wrong, maybe he did not betray Tony, maybe he just didn’t know. He decides to tell them the truth, the full truth he knows from Tony and see what happens. He just hopes that Tony will forgive him at least for telling them, if not for… the other thing he did.

“When after the fight in Leipzig Tony found out that the reason Rogers was trying to leave are other possible Winter Soldiers created in base in Siberia, he decided to follow and offer his help. Despite Rogers being a fugitive and despite the repercussions he could face from Ross and Accords Committee.” Stephen can’t let it go. Can’t let them forget that despite everything they did, their lies and insults, despite the personal threat to himself, Tony went and tried to help them. It sometimes pissed him off, how self sacrificing the idiot was, but that was Tony Stark for you and Stephen wouldn’t change him for the world. “He came to Siberia and joined the two of them, but Zemo… was waiting. He killed the other Soldiers and waited for them to come. I don’t know how he knew Tony would follow, maybe it was sheer dumb luck, but he did show up and Zemo showed them a video.” He can see Barnes shifting, shoulders going up and forward as if he wants to hide inside himself. Rogers as if feeling it, despite standing in front of him takes a step back and shields him from the looks of others. “You all know what was on the video?” Stephen asks, he doesn’t want to say it at loud, he doesn’t want Little Tony to hear about his parents death. Luckily they all nod. “Tony, upon seeing it, flipped out as anyone would and I know he is sorry and regrets it.”

“He apologized to me” the quiet voice of Bucky Barnes interrupts his story. All present turn to the former Winter Soldier. “When… when we moved into the Compound.” he looks at Steve almost pleadingly. “I… I could not sleep and went to the kitchen to eat something, but he was here. I wanted to leave, I thought he hates me” “Buck” Steve tries to say. “No Stevie, he has every right to do so. Maybe I am not entirely at fault, but it did not change a thing on what happened. ” his voice gets louder, more confident. “He stopped me from leaving and offered me a tea and he… he apologized. He said, he had no right to attack me the way he did, that he knows that I could not fight against them…” his voice breaks a little and Rogers does not hesitate to embrace him.

Stephen stays quiet, he does not continue the story, just watches them embrace dispassionately. Of course Tony would apologize to the murderer of his 

parents for trying to beat him. He rocks back and forth, cheek rubbing the top of Tony’s head, glad to see the Cloak wrapped itself around the boy, offering warmth and comfort.

It is again Rhodey who interrupts the silence “Yes, Tony attacked and they fought, he told me about it, but he did not say anything about Steve trying to kill him.” Maybe Stephen was prepared to forgive too easily, Rhodey really was an idiot. Before he could answer such stupid question, Peter said “I think words will not be enough for you. If they would be, you’d never sided with Rogers when he demanded the Avengers to be reformed and that you should all live here. FRI would it be against your protocols to show them the footage?” he looks up to the ceiling.

“No Pete, it won’t. Boss did not specify which footage not to show and I think it will help if they see it firsthand, but I think MiniBoss should not see it.”

“You’re right.” he turns back to Stephen, extending arms to take Tony to him “Hey sweety, I know some cool bots, would you like to meet them?”

“Bots?”

“Yes bots, robots. Mechanical people.” He can see the boy's eyes bulge out as he eagerly throws himself from Stephen's arms into Peter's. Peter knew Tony will like the idea of bots, he loves them very much even if he threatens to  give them away on almost daily basis. He takes the boy and the Cloak still wrapped around him and leaves as quickly as possible. He doesn’t want to chance that Tony will overhear what is to follow in the living room, to be honest he doesn’t want to hear or see it either. He saw the footage only once months ago, but still has nightmares occasionally.

 

Stephen was glad that Peter took him, he doesn't need to be afraid to frighten the boy if things go south. “FRIDAY, what footage did he mean?”

“Boss’ armor is always recording. Peter wants me to show you the feed from Siberia as I showed to him. If you could move in front of the TV please.”

They did as she asks, all eager to see what actually happened. Even Bucky who, although present, was unconscious during the last part and didn’t see the main part of the fight. Stephen is watching Rogers from the corner of the eye, waiting to see the fear that his lies will be reveal and his allies will see what kind of a man he really is. What bothers him is that Rogers is grim yes, but not really afraid. There is also certain curiosity in his eyes.

The TV turns on and the feed shows a gauntlet of Iron Man's armor push open a tall, metal door.

 

Steve is watching the video with growing horror. In his memories is the whole day fuzzy, all he remembers is the all consuming fear that Tony will take Bucky from him and that he won’t see him ever again. Looking back at the day, he does not even remember why he was so focused on the genius, yes, they disagreed on the Accords, Steve hated being pushed into corner like that, but they disagreed many times before and the Accords had nothing to do with Bucky. When he thinks about it, it wasn’t the first time that his emotions about Tony got out of his hands. It was like that ever since Sokovia, since Ultron.

But that day, everything, every feeling, every emotion was heightened. When they’ve got into the Bunker and Tony did attack, it was like cogs finally fitting into their rightful place. He was the enemy, the one that needs to be stopped at all cost. If he would get Bucky, he would kill him and Steve… Steve can’t live without Bucky, not again.

He never meant to kill Tony, he considered him his friend, despite what others might think, but watching the feed, especially after Bucky went down, he can see it. There is something in his eyes, something that makes him afraid, something that tells him he  _ could  _ kill him.

The video ends when he smashes the reactor in Tony’s chest, it shows clear as a day how he changed the trajectory of the shield in the last second, how he moved it lower, aiming for the reactor instead of his face or worse, throat. 

The video ends, but it still plays on the loop in Steve’s head, the moment when he smashed the shield down, the frightened gasp he heard and instinctively knew that it was Tony thinking he is going to kill him. A bile rises into his throat and he runs towards the kitchen sink.

He does not see Thor physically herding Bruce outside before he can hulk out then and there, he does not see how Sam tries to lay a hand on Rhodey’s shoulder only to be shoved away and he does not see how Strange spits on the ground and says to Bucky “Keep him away from Tony and I, or I WILL kill him” before storming away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one, but I believe this part deserves its own separate chapter


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has two parts:  
> 1/ Why would Tony need to forgive Stephen?  
> 2/ Rhodey vs Stephen

Stephen’s mood is black as he takes an elevator down to the labs. He knows it is irrational, he knows he has no right, but he needs to see him, needs to see with his own two eyes that Tony is alright. It is one thing to hear about what Rogers have done, but entirely different to actually see it, to hear how the man he loves gasps in fear as a weapon aims for his head.

It is ironic. He used to be a renowned world class surgeon and then became the Sorcerer Supreme, he has admirers all over the world, lots of people want him, claim to love him, even he claimed to love some of them, Christine, Greg, Michael, but none of them, not one relationship could compare to the feelings he has towards the small genius. If only Tony could love him back.

Is he the same as Rogers? Is he trying to use Tony’s current situation to gain his forgiveness? He broke his trust just like the Captain did and Tony did not want to see him since that night, ignored his calls and Stephen was too cowardly to just create a portal into his lab, despite doing it thousand times before.

 

_Flashback (2 weeks ago)_

_They were in the lab for hours, jumping from one experiment to another, eating chinese, drinking the foreign, incredibly expensive beer Tony likes. Stephen’s mind is enveloped in a golden haze of good mood, laughter and Tony._

_They did not move from the couch for the last hour, Tony is rambling on and on about the possibility of storing magical energy in a container so it may be used by different people, not only a sorcerer, while Stephen just sits there, looking at him with a gentle smile playing at his lips._

_The Sorcerer admitted to himself a long time ago, that he fell for the short scientist and fell really, really hard. How else would you explain any self respecting adult googling pictures of his interest late at night and frowning everytime he finds a picture of him with someone else? Stephen is either in love or went crazy._

_He admits, that he quite possibly may have had a small crush on him since the moment they’ve first met at the Sanctum. The way he took charge, naturally, effortlessly was… hot. And then the futures, he never said it to anyone, but in those 14 million possible outcomes he saw, Tony was either dead or leading the humans, sacrificing himself for the good of the others. How can you not fall for someone like that?_

_The only problem is certain Miss Potts, soon to become Mrs. Stark. Oh, how Stephen hates her. He logically knows she is a good woman, that she loves Tony and makes him happy, but… but they just do not belong together. She cannot understand him, not like Stephen does. Tony himself admitted that Stephen is the only one who knows the full extent of what happened in Siberia, for some reason Tony trusted him and not her._

_They should’ve never get back together. Because she just can’t, can’t understand that feeling you get when you know you will die soon, but that your death might prevent apocalypse or death of millions. That changes a person. She doesn’t know the thrill and the horror of when the fate of the world lies on your shoulders, she even wants him to give up Iron man! Ridiculous._

_“Right?” the word interrupts Stephen’s inner monologue and makes him focus back on Tony. He is so perfect, shining brown eyes full of excitement, cheeks little bit red from the warmth of the room and possibly the whisky they’ve been drinking. Maybe if Stephen told him about his feelings he would break up with her, maybe he would see who is the one for him._

_Maybe it is the whisky, maybe he can’t just hold it back any longer, but instead of saying a word, he sits up, leans forward and very, very gently presses his lips to Tony’s. He can’t help but moan at the electricity that runs through his veins from the simple touch. His hands, for once not trembling at all, slide up the column of the inventor’s neck to bury itself into the short hair at the nape. Tony gasps and Stephen’s tongue slides eagerly into his open mouth, deepening the kiss. He scoots closer, pressing their chests together while one hand slips from the smaller man’s hair and wraps itself around his lower back. Tony’s hands are trapped between them, pressed into Stephen’s chest, but not pushing him away. His tongue is responding to the sorcerer’s gentle coaxing, albeit hesitantly. Stephen’s head is spinning, he can feel his love responding to his touch and his mind is already painting pictures of their bright future together when his hand slips under Tony’s shirt, eager to feel the heat of his skin and Tony freezes. He can feel the hands pressed into his chest go rigid and Tony’s mouth suddenly disappears. Stephen opens his eyes and their cobalt, lust filled depths meet the frightened whisky brown ones._

_“Tony…” Stephen starts, not even knowing what he wants to say._

_“NO.” Tony rips himself out of his hold “No, no, no. Why did you do that?” his fingers tangle themselves in the long-ish hair at the top of his head. He looks positively frightened and the golden bubble surrounding Stephen during the whole afternoon suddenly pops. He tries to reach for Tony, to physically calm him, but the other man jumps out of the sofa and starts backing away from him._

_Stephen stays seated and holds his hands in front of himself, trying to show Tony that he won’t try to grab or hold him again. “Tony, please calm down. I’m sorry I did that, but please you need to calm down.” He can see how hard and quickly the smaller man breaths and he is afraid he will go into a panic attack. “Please Tony, I won’t do it again, I swear I won’t. Please….” he says over and over again, trying to push down the hurt he feels rising in his chest. Tony is not saying anything, but really his expression and posture say it all, Stephen fucked up and lost the trust he treasures so much, lost his One. Why he had to be so greedy? Why he couldn’t be happy as his friend? Tony is engaged for fuck’s sake and he just kissed him, not to mention that never ever there have been rumors of Tony having relations with a man. Stephen goes to stand, but is interrupted._

_“Please, you need to leave.”_

_“No! I cannot leave you in this state! I won’t touch you…”_

_“NO! GO!”_

_“Tony, please”_

_“GET OUT!” Stephen tries to come closer, if he could just touch him, to show him he meant no harm, but the moment he moves a whirring sound comes from the ceiling. Parts of it open and several deadly looking machine guns descend down, while FRIDAY says “Please leave the premises Doctor. Leave willingly or you’ll be removed.” Stephen wants to fight, wants to follow the still retreating genius, but the cocking of the guns is pretty loud and clear. He sees no other option, he opens a portal, but before he enters he turns back to Tony just for a second “I’m sorry my love, please believe me I’ve never intended any harm to you. I would rather kill myself than hurt you. I’m sorry….” He turns back and closes the portal, the sight of Tony’s teary face forever etched behind his eyelids._

 

His train of thought is interrupted by a loud excited weeee coming from the lab at the end of the hallway and he just can’t hold back a smile. Looks like Little Tony is having lots of fun with the bots.

As he automatically raised his head, he noticed a dark figure standing at the end of the corridor, looking into the lab. The hallway is quite dark and his breathing speeds up in panic until he comes closer and recognizes Colonel Rhodes. There are tears streaming down his face and Stephen is not sure whether the man even knows he is not alone anymore until he speaks.

“I was in coma you know, for 2 weeks after the crash. Do you know what I saw when I woke up? Him. Sleeping in a chair right next to my bed, a complete mess, datapads everywhere. The moment I woke up he already had 12th iteration of my braces designed, just waiting for me to try them on. He looked like shit, but he didn’t look… I didn’t know!” he spins towards Stephen desperately, not ashamed for the anguish and tears streaming down his face. “You must trust me, I didn’t know, I didn’t. He told me that there was a fight between them, that he attacked Barnes and Steve stopped him, but he never said how! Never! Why didn’t he trust me?” the last sentence is almost inaudible, Rhodey leaning against the lab doors heavily as if all fight and anger evaporated to leave only sadness and fatigue. Stephen remains quiet, what can he say to that? “He did this before you know.” Rhodey continues quietly “he was dying, back when he returned from Afghanistan with the first reactor in his chest, it was slowly poisoning him and instead of telling us, he went completely of the rails. When I found out, only after he was ok of course, I made him promise me he won’t do that ever again. Promise me he would tell me and instead… here we are. He is hurting, I can see that now and I, his best friend, welcomed his bully back with open arms. Became friends with him and his, even started to believe that Tony is the one who is wrong! How could I?” He looks at the sorcerer with naked desperation. “He is my brother! Was since we’ve first met and I took their side when he didn’t want to move to the Compound. I should have seen it, should have known that there is something he is not telling me, but it was like something in my mind told me, that that’s bullshit. That Tony was just holding a grudge for them taking Cap’s side in the Civil war. That if he just lived with them, he would come around. What have I done….” 

Stephen wants to tell him to fuck off, to leave Tony to him and never talk to him again, but he doesn’t because Tony loves Rhodey, he would hurt if he didn’t have the man in his life. But he can’t just pat his back and say everything is okay either. “You fucked up, royally so. Your friend was hurting while you were running behind Wilson. And not only since the Thanos thing, even before when you started to train with Rogers and the Widow, he told me how many times you blew him off just so you could spend more time with them.

You are a shitty friend, but luckily I am not. I was there for him when you weren’t, I listened to him and offered comfort.” his tone could freeze a lake in the middle of summer. “So I know one thing, Tony loves you, very very much, but he is afraid he lost you. I know everything because he trusted me enough to tell me and believe me, there is nothing more I want more than send you all to some distant shithole in the universe so we don’t have to deal with you ever again, but I’m not as naive as to believe that Peter and I would be enough. And I won’t have Tony endangered even more. So man up and apologize once he is back to himself, explain everything and let him forgive you. We all know he will, it’s Tony after all.” He takes a step closer, sliding right into the other man’s personal space and backing him against the wall “But always remember that I am watching your every move, every word and if you cause him anymore pain, I will be the one to bring judgement on you.” He will not sink to outright threaten the guy, he doesn’t have to. He is the Sorcerer Supreme and the Avengers know the extent of his abilities by now. “Now wipe your face and once you calm down, come in. Tony needs all the protection he can get right now, especially if we’re going to take him to the park.” He turns around and disappears through the door into the lab.

 

Stephen left the Colonel in the hallway, not caring about him one bit anymore, he wasted enough time on him as it is. Tony is the only thing that matters right now.

The lab is in complete disarray, it is always messy, full of half finished projects and parts, but now it looks like a bomb exploded. Half of the tables and chairs are on their sides.

He has just enough time to duck, before lime green ball flies around his head, hitting the door behind and rebounds itself to the other side of the room. The ball is quickly followed by Tony’s bots, Butterfingers, U and Dummy chase the little ball like over excited puppies, not caring about the furniture standing in their way one bit. The little culprit throwing the ball cheers from the sofa. Peter apparently changed his clothes, because instead of oversized sweatshirt and pyjama pants, the kid wears, Stephen cannot hold back a laugh, a costume of Spiderman, complete with a little hood over his head. The hood has even stitched Spiderman’s eyes on it. He is cheering and clapping excitedly while the bots ruin his precious lab. Stephen decides to tease him a bit.

“Peter? Where is Tony?”

“Ftee-en! Tonys hewe!”

“Tony?” the sorcerer pretends to look around as if searching for the boy “where are you bunny, I can’t see you.”

The child jumps off of the sofa and runs, hitting Stephen’s legs at full speed “Heeeewe Ftee-en!”

“Oh, is it really you?” he feigns surprise “I though that Spiderman came to visit us.” The boy giggles adorably and stretches his arms up, in clear ‘pick me up’ sign. “Pawk?”

“Park? You still want to go to the park?” Tony nods eagerly. “Okay, let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone willing to share their favorite Avengers fic? I need something new to read. One of my favorites is Potion verse from 8fred9, the main pairing is Loki/Tony/dark!Bruce and it’s hilarious.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day in a park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all who suggested new fics!

“Can I come with you?” Rhodey asks quietly from the doorway. He gazes longingly at Tony in Stephen’s arms. The child looks at him little warily, studying him for few excruciating seconds and then slowly nods. Rhodey’s brilliant smile is answered by a small, shy one, but smile nonetheless.

“Why you sad?” asks the child, interesting how children can see through all the masks adults put on and cut through them with single simple line.

Rhodey’s smile dims a little, but he does not look away from the inquisitive brown eyes “I have a friend and I was very mean to him. He had to go away for awhile and I did not have a chance to say how sorry I am. I’m afraid he won’t want to be my friend when he comes back.” he looks away, no longer able to look at Tony from the fear he will start crying again. He does not see Little Tony pull at Stephen’s shirt to put him down, nor does he see the child hesitantly approaching him. Therefore it takes him quite by surprise and he will be eternally grateful he did not instinctively kicked out when small arms wrap around his left knee. His heart positively melts at the sight of the boy hugging his leg, trying to comfort him “He fwiend, he fowgive” he states solemnly, looking up at Rhodey. “I fwiend?” he asks, hesitantly.

“You would be my friend?” Rhodey tries to make sure he hears properly first and when the boy nods he scoops him into his arms, planting big, loud kisses on his full little cheek, making him giggle. “I will be the bestest friend you have, I promise Tony!” The boy looks at Stephen and Peter as if trying to gauge if they are disappointed, but when he sees them smile he turns back and hugs the silly man back.

After that it is only few more minutes while they convince pouting Tony and Peter that Spiderman onesie is not the best thing to wear to a park, change the younger one, convince the Cloak he can’t come and agree not to call Banner and Thor even if it would give Tony more protection. ”I wouldn’t, they’re both easily recognizable and anytime Thor goes somewhere, lines of horny fangirls and reporters follow. I don’t want any speculations on who is the kid. Can you imagine the press shitstorm it would cause?”

“Shistowm, shistowm” Tony repeats with a glee as both adults look at him and then at each other with abject horror. They do not have to say it at loud, but they both silently promise to watch their language more closely.

 

The Central Park is bustling with people. It seems to be little overwhelming for the small boy, currently almost choking Rhodes with his little arms around his neck. Stephen never though about where Tony grew up, he always somehow assumed it would be in New York, but he seems unused to such a large crowd. Luckily the stand with balloons is not far away and serves as a very effective distraction. They spend at least 15 minutes there. Tony really likes this big colorful parrot balloon, Stephen can see it clearly in his eyes, but at the same time seems reluctant to take it. After few minutes of cajoling and questioning they uncover a tale where Howard Stark, may he forever burn in Hell, popped a balloon Tony brought from his trip with Jarvis, because balloons are for small children. In the end the only way how to convince him that it is really okay to take the balloon and that no one will take it, is to buy balloons of their own. Peter of course goes for the Iron Man one, while Stephen choses a regularly shaped balloon, that is see-through and has red and gold glitters in it and Rhodey, with no shame at all, choses a pretty blue pony with rainbow colored mane.

 

Next stop are the swings and giant jungle gym near the lake. Stephen and Rhodey sit on a nearby bench guarding the balloons, while Peter follows Tony into the gaggle of kids.

They got a coffee on the way and sip it quietly, Stephen’s eyes never leaving Tony’s small frame, while Rhodey scans their surroundings for any possible threats. It gets weird after a while, not talking to each other, but none of them knows how to start. After a minute or two of awkward coughing and furtive glances, Rhodey is the one to break. The moment he does, the Sorcerer wishes he didn’t for his first sentence is “Sooo, how long have you been in love with my best friend?” and Stephen chokes on his too hot Caramel Latte. He has enough presence of mind to know that Rhodes did that on purpose  and despite the coughing fit, manages to give him one of his patented glares, the ones he used on unruly interns and baby sorcerers alike. But of course it does not work, the former soldier just raises his right eyebrow calmly, cool as a cucumber. There is not a trace of humour on his face, he disappointed Tony enough this last years, time to step up his game. “Don’t try to deny it, even blind man can see the way you look at him.”

“Blind man maybe, but Tony certainly didn’t see it coming” he admits with a frown.

“So he knows? How did you tell him, what did he say?”

Stephen glares at him to make sure Rhodey understands how uncomfortable he is with the topic, but Rhodey knows him the longest, maybe he will be able to explain Tony’s reaction to their kiss. “I kissed him, twoo weeks ago” he admits, his tone clearly showing that it didn’t go overly well. “It didn’t end well. Since I’ve come back, he, he made the effort to get to know me, you know? I don’t have that many friends outside the Sanctum, so having someone to go out to eat, someone who won’t bitch about the price like Wong always does when I take him into a proper restaurant… it was nice. We talked about you a lot too. You see I used to be a neurosurgeon and he wanted to pick my brain on how to make your braces better.” he looks down, but the braces are not visible anymore. They are inside his legs now, responding to signals of Rhodes’ neuro system like they were always just a part of him. If Stephen didn’t know, he would have no way of telling the man is paralyzed from waist down. “Once the braces were done, he started to ask about magic and how it works. In the end I spend at least 3 times a week down in the lab with him, sometimes working together, sometimes separately and sometimes just talking and playing with the bots. He… I don’t get how people, how Rogers and the others can treat him like that. Don’t they see how perfect he is? How generous and kind and funny….” he trails away with a heavy sigh. He acts like a schoolgirl with a crush and poor Rhodes has to listen to him. Stephen wonders how many times Rhodes had to listen to people in love with his best friend before.

“Once you see behind that public persona, you can’t help but love him, right? I saw it happen million times before, hell it happened to me. I was sitting on a lecture about quantum mechanics when this boy, maybe twelve years old, cute as a button, wanders in and sits next to me. At first the professor thought him lost and wanted to send him away, but Tony interrupted him and stated that he is Anthony Edward Stark, the youngest student on MIT and that this is the class he is suppose to be attending. Then he sat down and proceeded to show us all that he has much better grasp of the subject than even the professor. I asked him to tutor me after the class in exchange for buying him lunch three times a week and he was so surprised. I was a dumb kid back then, I did not know his father is billionaire. The weirdest thing was that he knew he is a genius, but did not expect others to find him special or even to like him because of him. Only later, when he told me about his father and how Howard treated him I understood.”

“Yeah, he told me some stuff about his father, mainly how he worshipped Rogers and always set him as an example for Tony. How he always made him feel unworthy of being the son of the Great Howard Stark. God, how I hate that man. You know how many times I had to resist the temptation to use the Stone to go back and teach him a lesson?”

“One day when your resolve breaks, don’t forget about me. I would want nothing more than punch the jerk right in his stupid nose.” Stephen just claps his back with a bright smile on his face, mental image of Howard’s bloodied face dancing in his mind.

Rhodey wants to ask more, wants to know more about their kiss, but as he opens his mouth a soft voice asks: “Oh, you’re such a cute couple. Which one is yours?”

The former sergeant whips around, but it is no vilain intent on destroying Manhattan, it is a pair of young women, mothers, based on the toys and things surrounding them, who giggle at his surprised expression. The one closer to him, a petite blond with an honestly very generous ehm..., adds “Don’t worry, we won’t judge. Love is love. So you have a girl or a boy?”

“We don’t have kids! We’re not together!” Rhodey splutters quickly, maybe little louder than intended.

“We’re here with a nephew” Stephen adds upon seeing the startled and little bit suspicious expressions in the women’s eyes. Really, what was Rhodes thinking, how it would look like for two adult men to sit here and look at a children’s playground without a child to look after. They would look like perverts.

They immediately relax and introduce themselves as Sophia (the blond) and Samantha (a redhead), they are nannies for some wealthy families from the Upper East Side and came to New York to study fashion. They slowly migrate closer to each other as they talk, now standing in a loose circle. Stephen is not a halfwit, he knows when he is getting hit on and they’re not very subtle about it, he just doesn’t care. Rhodey on the other hand flirts like it is the last day of his life.

They talk for few minutes, their talk more a sea of innuendos and not so covert propositions when he notices Peter heading their way with frowning Tony sitting on his shoulders. Tony’s arm are already reaching out to him impatiently, so Stephen does not hesitate to pull him down. The boy won’t stop glaring and it seems getting worse when Sophia comes near, leaning against Stephen’s arm. “Oh what a cutie” she tries to pinch the boy’s cheek, but he jerks away “what is your name?”

Silence. The boy holds his mouth stubbornly closed, glaring fiercely.

“Oh he is shy, how sweet.” she giggles, leaning against Stephen even more, basically placing her breasts on top of his bent forearm.

That is apparently too much for Little Tony for he shoves her away as hard as he can and shouts: “NO! My Ftee-en! MINE!”

“Tony!” Stephen pulls him away, turning his back at the laughing girl “that was not nice!”

“But...but… no touchy! Ftee-en Tonys!”

Peter pets his head from behind, making the boy whirl wildly around to see who is touching him. “So this is why you wanted to come back? Because she was touching him?”

“No” the child admits, suddenly petulant “Tony hungwy”

They all laugh goodnaturedly and split, but not before the ladies slip a paper with their phone numbers into their pockets.

 

The hot-dog is a success, even if Tony eats mostly the meat and most of the bun ends with the ducks in the pond, but no worry, he won’t end up hungry for he notices an ice cream stand and begs until Rhodes relents and buys him a scoop of vanilla. They walk the winding paths, enjoying the warm sun. Tony is again riding on Peter’s shoulders, small arms reaching up from time to time trying to reach low hanging branches. Stephen notices that Tony talks less and less and that his eyelids start to drop. That gets him thinking, is Tony old enough not to need an afternoon nap? Shouldn’t they head back? Stephen opens his mouth to suggest it when Tony sees it “ Cawousl!” he gasps excitedly and points towards the other side of the lake “Cawousl! Cawousl!” he chants while bouncing on Peter’s shoulders, only the teenager’s hands keeping him from falling down and splitting his head open.

It is the famous carousel of course. How could they go to the Park and not have a ride on the carousel?

Rhodey, who also noticed Tony’s sleepiness just a minute ago makes the boy promise that they will go home after the ride. He reluctantly agrees, but it is of course before he is on the attraction. He is sitting on a grey horse pulling a chariot, Peter volunteered to be in the chariot in case he would start to slip. After the first ride comes the next and they move to a little car deeper in. Peter had enough at that point but Tony’s is stubborn, he insist on having another ride, this time on a white horse. With a promise that this is truly the last one they relent and that is their doom. For when the carousel stops, they can see Tony clutching the pole with all his might and tears streaming down his face. All three rush him, but Stephen gets there first and snatches him off of the ride. The moment he is off and securely in the Sorcerer’s arms, the little boys moans and pukes the remains of hot-dog and ice cream all over Stephen’s front. Of course instead of helping, Rhodes and Peter laugh so hard they must lean against each other not to fall down, completely disregarding Stephen’s panicked expression.

He holds the boy as far from himself as possible, all the while trying to sooth him. The poor baby is crying that he is sorry and he didn’t mean to. Stephen doesn’t know what to do first, clean himself or calm the boy when his dilemma is solved by an unexpected newcomer.

“Well well gentlemen, you seem like you need some help.” perfectly manicured hands snag the child from his arms, hugging him close. Oh, how much he hates Pepper Potts.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The meeting between Pepper and Stephen does not go as smoothly as some might expect. Well what else you can expect from ex-girlfriend and a man who is in love with our favorite genius?  
> Who's side will the group take when those two fight?

To Stephen’s surprise, Tony’s stops crying almost instantly. Maybe it is the shock of someone new appearing and taking him, maybe is the boy simply freaked out by her, but the most plausible scenario is that Tony feels suddenly shy. It seems that way from the looks he keeps throwing her while she tries to clean his face with a wet wipe, courtesy of Happy Hogan. Although where the man got it remains mystery. If he had more, he did not think of offering one to Stephen who has to push back his own gagging at the feeling of the puked on shirt touching his skin. To take his mind off of it, he focuses on the interaction between Tony and his girlfriend.

She is holding him in her arms like he always belonged there and Stephen needs to push back an irrational urge to grab him and run. The boy is so adorable, his ears are all red and he is peeking up at her through his little fingers, eliciting awwws from all around.

“Hello Tony, do you know me?” Pepper tries to get him to talk, but instead of answering he just shakes his head slowly, still not looking away from her, nor taking his hands off of his eyes.

She just smiles gently and introduces them: “My name is Pepper and this is Happy” she turns a little bit to show him the suit clad man looking down at him. One little hand peels off of his face and points towards the bodyguard slash driver “‘Appy?” the man nods with solemn expression and soft eyes and the boy turns back to her “Peppew?” he waits on her nod and them, in the most innocent voice asks “You pwetty. You angel?”

“Oh you’re so sweet” she croons. Yeah, so sweet. Stephen hopes Tony will puke all over her stupid white suit. Seriously, who wears white suits?

“Our little ladies man” Rhodes sniffs and pretends to wipe imaginary tears while the others  laugh. He would do better if he stayed quiet, because his comment draws her attention from the cute little boy directly to him. The look she gives him is known to strike fear into the hearts of adult men, CEOs of their companies, making them tremble in their overpriced shoes. “Ah, Rhodey. Just the man I wanted to talk to.” she pretends to just now notice him “I did not HEAR from you for sooo sooo long. Why didn’t you call me?”

The black man pales to a very interesting shade of grey under her steely gaze, it is the first time he realized that none of them thought to tell Pepper what happened and Peter’s o-oh is definitely not helping to appease her wrath. “Pep, I… I forg… I mean, how do you… I mean” he starts to sputter, but she stops him immediately just by raising her hand.

“You’re lucky FRIDAY told me. I already cleaned my schedule for next few days to take care of him, I’m taking him with me.” she rubs her nose against Tony’s forehead.

“What! No! You can’t you st…” luckily Stephen stops himself before the insult really leaves his mouth, he is too used to calling her names in his head, but he never actually met her in person except the time when he first met Tony, so he can’t very well call her stupid cow. But she won’t take him, over his dead body.

She twirls towards him, frowning deeply but her voice is calm when she asks “Do tell. Why can’t I take him?” she is hugging the boy firmly, obviously ready to fight.

“How would you even know how to take care of him? Being woman does not give you automatic child rearing skills.” he accuses.

“Being woman has absolutely nothing to do with it, I’ve been taking care of Tony for years.”

“Oh and what a great job have you done!” the sarcasm is heavy in his voice.

Her eyes narrow in response “And what do YOU know about taking care of him Mr. I buy him food and then let him on a carousel I don’t know how many times until he pukes?”

“Thlee times” the baby genius in question pipes in helpfully, sticking his little hand up, unsurprisingly showing the correct amount of fingers. Stephen was afraid at first that he would be afraid when he sees them fight even if they did not raise their voices yet, but he couldn’t be more wrong. Tony is bouncing in her arms, turning his head back and forth as if he is watching a tennis match. Stephen smiles at the boy and pets his hair, but quickly returns back to his nemesis.

“Oh that’s rich coming from you. All your achievements can be summed up in made him eat something else than pizza and sign company documents once in a while! Great success, bravo!”

“You, you absolute dickhead!” she barks to his surprise, he did not expect her to break first. They both ignore the uuuus from their peanut gallery. Stephen counts it as a win, especially when she releases Tony, shoving the child into Peter’s waiting arms and plants her fists on her hips. “You’ll listen to me or God help me. You know nothing about Tony and I, nothing!”

“Oh I know enough you stupid ginger” now the ooooohs sound more scared than admiring, apparently no one ever called her a ginger and lived to tell the tale, not that Stephen cares of course, afterall she called him a dickhead while he simply commented on her hair color. “I know enough to know how you manipulated him into giving up the Iron Man, the very thing that defines him, that it is because of you he destroyed all his suits. Where were you when he fought with Rogers? Being mad that he created a new suit? That he put the safety of us all above what you want?”

Before she can retort, or slap him or whatever she wanted to do, Rhodes decides to step in “Hey man that's not fair! I’m with Pep on this one. Don’t you dare to suggest that she somehow manipulated Tony to destroying his suits. It was his decision!”

“But…” Stephen tries to step in, but is rudely stopped by the former sergeant,

“No! You’ll shut up and listen now. I had enough of your arrogance and attitude. You think you can stroll in here, insult everyone and make decisions? Insult people who know him and love him for years? You know absolutely nothing about us. We are family, me, Pep, Happy and Tony and we’ve been one for years. Maybe we’re not in the best place right now, but we’re still here for each other no matter what. We went through shit together you cannot even imagine you pompous prick! And the best thing? A day ago I didn’t even know you exist!”

From all that was said, it is the last bit that hits Stephen the hardest. He can feel a dull ache spread from behind his sternum, envelope his throat and morph into intense burn in the root of his nose. They knew nothing of him? Tony never mentioned him? They were his friends, family even and he never told them?

But it does make sense, doesn’t it? Just because Stephen thought of him as his best friend and fell in love, it doesn’t mean Tony has to feel the same way. He is the Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, Iron man. How many people fancied themselves Tony’s friends while he thought of them only as acquaintances or colleagues? Was it possible that he read it all wrong? Is this the reason why Tony didn’t kiss him back? Why he just removed him from his life, not bothering to even pick up his calls? Was he just another nuisance?

He looks at the people gathered in front of him, but he sees no sympathy from them, only hostile frowns. He looks at the boys, at the contrite expression in Peter’s eyes and at the wide eyed shock in Tony’s. The boy looks almost frightened at the tension palpable among the adults. Stephen approaches him slowly, ignoring the suspicious looks and gently pets the boy’s head. He does not dare to take him into his arms, he might never release him again. Instead he leans closer, until he is almost eye to eye to the small genius “Hey bunny. I will have to leave for now okay?” he tries his best to muster a smile, the burning in his nose is almost unbearable by now “but don’t be sad.” he ads when he sees the tears welling in the boy’s eyes. “I won’t leave you alone okay? You will have Peter and Rhodey and Pepper and Happy.”

“Ftee-en come back?” the boy’s voice cuts deep.

“I will be back, I promise. If you will need me, all you need to do is to tell Pete here and he will come and get me.” he knows he shouldn’t make such promises and shouldn’t put the teenager on spot like that, but he can’t bear the thought that Tony will think he abandoned him “plus, I’m leaving my special cloak with you, aren’t I?”

“Wed Blankie?”

“Uh-huh, will you take good care of him?”

He receives a solemn nod in confirmation, so there is not much left to do. He bends even closer, kissing the soft hair covering Tony’s forehead. “I’m so sorry bunny.” Stephen turns away from those pleading doe eyes and without sparing a glance to anyone else creates a portal, tears already streaming down his long nose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again a short one, but I really felt that it should end here and not move to another topic. I will try to post next one sooner.
> 
> Btw I have no idea what was that thing with troll comments, but all comments are now moderated, but don't worry. I will approve all comments even those that say my work is shit ;) everybody has a right to say their opinion.


	8. Chapter 8

Bucky’s heart is breaking at the sight. Steve, all 6’2 of him, squeezed himself into a corner of the kitchen, knees drawn to his chest, and is moving back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…, on and on and on.

They are alone just the two of them, just like they used to be, before. Everyone else left after watching the video, even Wilson, even though comparing to the others he looked more confused than angry.

Bucky knows the look hunting Steve’s eyes, he saw it many times before in the trenches of the WW2 and during his missions as the Soldier, but never on him, never on the man that everyone thought to be perfect, to be made of steel able to endure anything. He saw him angry, saw him sad, saw him slowly dying of pneumonia, but he never ever saw him to be afraid of who he is, what he has become. Because the man in the video and the boy he knew back in Brooklyn are not the same person. Bucky knew him, knows him, his Steve would never do anything like that.

He slowly approaches his crouched lover, step by a measured step as if he is a frightened animal and not a suffering young man. Bucky kneels next to him and gently lies his palm on a shaking knee. He does not say anything, he doesn’t know what to say. What do you say to someone who just learned that they almost killed one of their friends? The Soldier was trained in many things but this was not one of them. He opens his mouth several times, but all that leaves it is comforting nonsense, meaningless in a situation like this. “Hey doll” he rubs his palm on the other’s shoulder “I’m here with you. Everything is going to be fine, you’ll see. You will fix it. I will help you I promise. It’s okay, everything is okay.”

His answer is only silence. It is as if the whole world stopped around them, waiting with a baited breath for Steve to react, to give a sign he knows what’s happening around him.

When the sign comes, it does not come from the young hero, it comes from outside in form of an angry “Arghhhh”. The sound is unfortunately very familiar to Bucky and he knows in a heartbeat that it is Bruce, Bruce who lost his temper and hold of the Hulk. He scrambles from the floor, trying to pull Steve with him, but it is as if he’s frozen, his limbs refusing to unwind and run. Bucky’s pulling gets more and more frantic. He saw the Hulk fight and he knows that if he’s got his hands on Steve right now, Steve would be as good as dead. Not even the Supersoldier Serum would help him if enraged Hulk tore him in half.

He can hear Thor shouting from outside and is infinitely glad that Thor is there to slow down the beast if not entirely stop him. Sounds of a fight between those two echo around the building and he can faintly hear yelling and FRIDAY directing people to the safe rooms built for situations such as this one.

But Steve, Steve is still sitting, lost inside his own head, not hearing a thing. Bucky has no other option, he grabs him, throws him over his shoulder and runs.

There is a saying in Russia that loosely translates to ‘everything bad comes with something good’ and Bucky believes in that, for when Steve brought him here for the first time, nervous and jumping at shadows after leaving Wakanda, Stark had a special set of rooms created for him. They were further in the Compound than the rooms of others, on the same floor as the labs and completely safe. Atomic bomb or a Hulk could come and he would be safe in there. It was the only place where he could actually sleep those first few weeks. He’s got better, eventually, but the rooms remained there for him, just in case. He is so so glad for them now.

He can hear the sound of breaking glass as the structure trembles, it seems the Hulk is in, all around him red lights blink alerting everyone that there is an attack. He speeds up, glad to notice that he is almost there. Bucky is a Supersoldier too, made to endure, but he lost a lot of his muscle mass in Wakanda and Steve is heavy as hell.

They’re finally there. Bucky’s knees almost buckle from relief upon hearing the doors click shut and automatically lock. He gently deposits Steve on the couch and kneels in front of him, trying to reassure him.

“Hey punk, we’re safe here.” he takes his hands in his and kisses the rough palms. He tries to not show it, but he is really freaked out. He was able to push it back while they were running, but now…. Steve is still unresponsive and Bucky really doesn’t know what to do. He shortly contemplates simply punching him, just to get him to react somehow, but… he just doesn’t want to. He loves Steve, he does not want to beat him even if it is to help him. They both had enough violence in their lives to last them for three lifetimes.

“How about I fill up the bath? Hmm? We can sit in there together, warm and cozy….” Still no response, but Bucky likes the idea of a warm bath and goes to turn on the faucets. He gently coaxes the blond into the steaming water and slips behind him hugging him close. They sit there for a few minutes and Bucky can feel the tension slowly melting away from his shoulders and also a barely there softening in Steve’s “I love you punk, no matter what. I will be here for you, always. Till the end of the line” he whispers into his ear. It is their line, their promise. It was made almost a century ago, in a world so different from these days, but it still stands. For if there will be even a small spark of life in James Buchanan Barnes, even snippet of his soul, he will stand by Steve’s side. Maybe it is not healthy, maybe they are both crazy, he does not care. Steve Rogers is his and he is Steve’s.

Maybe it was the warm water, maybe the familiar line was what finally pierced the fog around Steve’s brain, but the shock finally breaks.

Steve Rogers cries like he did not cry since his mother’s funeral. Once that first tear breaks free, the rest follows in a never ending stream, the quiet gasps turn into loud sobs. Steve bends forward, hiding his face in the palms of his hands, screaming his pain out, the sound ricocheting off the walls of the tiled bathroom.

Bucky just sits there holding him as tight as possible, his face is hidden in Steve’s broad back, so he closes his eyes and tries to pretend he is not there, that he cannot hear the sound Steve makes, that he cannot hear his pain.

He takes him to bed, afterward and they lay there, tangled together in their little heaven, locked away from the world.

  
  


She honestly did not mean to get into an argument with Strange, she didn't even know he will be there. The hour between when FRIDAY told her and when she found them in the Park was one of the worst in her life, it was right up there together with the day when Tony flew a nuke into the space and the day he’s got on a spaceship leaving Earth. All she could think of was Tony, small and scared, needing someone to be there for him.

She doesn’t even know how they started arguing. All she remembers is his accusation that she manipulated Tony into giving up his suits and the yelling afterwards. She shouldn’t lost her temper like that, but the idea that she wanted to somehow hurt Tony was preposterous. She loves him! Tony is the love of her life and she just wanted him to be safe. She would not survive losing him. And the accusation that she manipulated to give up the suits? Ridiculous. She never ever manipulated him into anything, she made it clear that she would prefer if he wasn’t the Iron Man, but she was open about it!

She loves him more than anyone else and would do anything for him. Even things that hurt her, things like breaking up with him when she figured out that she is no longer the one he loves romantically. Rhodey maybe did not know about Dr. Stephen Strange, but she did. She heard all about how smart, how funny and clever the doctor is, she saw the way Tony’s eyes lit up when he talked about their ‘science dates’. No one could ever accuse Pepper of being stupid or a coward, she knew love when she saw it and so even though it broke her heart, she ended the relationship with Tony and returned him the engagement ring. The only thing she could not force herself to do was to tell him the real reason. If Tony did not realize his love for the sorcerer yet, she won’t be the one who will tell him.

She is feeling guilty that they drove him away. She saw his tears, which made it even worse because now she is sure that he returns Tony's feelings and the accusing expressions on Peter and Tony’s faces are making her guilt even stronger. It was Rhodey who dealt the final blow, but she could at least try to stop him. Instead, she just stood there gaping at the heartbroken expression on the doctor’s face.

So she steps closer to the teenager “I’m sorry Stephen had to leave, I’m sure he will be back soon” Her arms come up hesitantly, the gesture clear and to her surprise Tony accepts. She fully expected to be rejected now, it was her fault that the sorcerer was gone after all, but she was so so glad when she wasn’t. Tony clings to her like a baby koala, face hidden in her neck, but the question is clear “What if he no come back?” His voice is trembling on the verge of tears and Pepper wants to kick them all, including herself for making him feel that way. She looks at Peter, the teenager still frowning at her and makes a promise to both of them. “I promise, that if Stephen won’t come back in a day or two, I will go find him and bring him back to you. Okay?” and she means it.

“Okay” the boy still sounds so dejected and it is making her heart hurt.

Luckily Peter has something to cheer him up. He comes closer holding a balloon, it is a see through kind with little red and gold glitters in it. “Look Stephen left his balloon with us. Will you help me guard it for him?” that gets the boy’s attention and he dutifully extends his hand for it. As Peter lost his share of balloons like that, he decides to tie it around the thin wrist rather than just hand it over, right next to Tony’s parrot. “Here, this way we’re sure it won’t fly away.”

 

They all climb into the limo and set out for the Tower. Five minutes is all it takes for Tony to get bored by opening all the compartments and pushing buttons. He tumbles over Rhodey's extended legs to climb towards the partition usually separating the driver from the rest of the car.

“Mistah 'Appy!” he shouts into the poor man's ear. “Tony dwive!”

“You want to drive squirt?” Happy laughs, the kid is now practically hanging over the partition “you’re too short, you can’t reach the pedals!”

“Am NOT!” the child pouts adorably “I know! Jawis let Tony dwive”

“Really? And where did you drive? Formula in Monaco?”

The child giggles “Nooo, home!”

Happy looks at the little boy all eager and frowns slightly to show he is thinking about it. The boy is almost vibrating with excitement at the mere idea. He manages to hold back a smile for only handful of seconds and one “Pleaaaase Mistah 'Appy, pwetty pleaaase.” with sad puppy dog eyes, then caves in.

“Oh okay. You can drive. BUT NOT NOW!” he yells as Tony starts to climb over the partition. He might have agreed, but he won't let a child drive in the actual traffic. “Once we are at the Tower. In the garage.”

That does not sit well with the boy, he frowns thunderously and sticks his lower lip as far as it goes. “NO gawage! Woad!”

“Sorry squirt I can’t let that happen, but I promise that the garage is so big it will feel like we're on the road.”

The boy is clearly not pleased, but before he can protest again another head appears next to his.

“Mr. Happy Sir! Will you let me drive too?”

“Do you have your driving licence yet?”

The teenager's shoulders drop a little, his face has an eerily similar puppy expression to the little boy's next to him.

“No I don’t, we live in New York, so we do not need a car and ….” The boy does not finish only lowers his eyes, but Happy can easily imagine what he would have said. Happy knows that despite his relationship with Tony, the boy and his aunt always refused any financial aid and getting a driving licence is not cheap.

He frowns at the begging duo, it wouldn't do them any good to let them know they can manipulate him just by looking at him like that and grudgingly agrees. “Oh okay, but only in the garage!”

“Yeaaaah!” Peter fist pumps and Tony copies him while giggling like mad. Then the bigger boy grabs him, flopping down on the long seat and starts to blow raspberries wherever he can reach, while simultaneously avoiding flying limbs of trashing and giggling baby genius.

 

They survived unharmed, barely and only because of Happy’s years and years of experience and patience with Tony’s antics. He picked the orange Audi, one of his favorite as an adult and got progressively angrier when Happy, who was manning the pedals would not go as fast as he wanted. The boy also insisted that they all need to stay in the car to watch how good driver he is. When Happy refused to go faster, he started spinning the car in circles until they all got woozy and got even angrier when they tried to stop him. It did not take long until the crying and kicking started. The sweet, shy boy was gone, replaced by a little snot covered monster that knew only one word “NO!”.

Peter had to head home and  said his goodbye without even touching the steering wheel. Despite being disappointed, he was glad he had an excuse to leave, his sensitive ears were almost bleeding from the racket the angry boy was making. Plus Mr. Happy promised him, that they will agree on a better time and he will teach him the basics.

The adults somehow manage to get the angry boy into the Penthouse where he promptly takes off all of his clothes and starts running around, stark (pun intended) naked. He is knocking things off left and right, leaving the penthouse is in state of utter chaos. The adults chasing the boy around, but the boy is slippery like an eel, always just a step ahead.

By some magic they are able to hear FRIDAY even over all that ruckus “Miss Potts, Dr. Banner is requesting to know where is Mini Boss. What should I tell him?” The AI is programmed to answer all inhabitants of the Compound to certain level, however this kind of situation is not in her protocols and in such cases her guidance comes either from Tony or Pepper.

Pepper looks at the verge of crying, she discarded her heels and jacket long time ago and her pristine white suit is now dirty beyond recognition. She is just glad she cannot see the state of her hair. The always so composed CEO of Stark Industries slumps on the ugly designer couch that Tony loves so much and looks dumbly up. It takes a second to get her thinking cap back on, but in the end she decides that there is no point in lying to Bruce and asks FRI to connect him through video.

 

Bruce woke up from his after-Hulk nap to a suspiciously calm Compound. He was in the common room that looked surprisingly not-smashed with only Thor, surrounded by Pop-tarts wrappers, watching some strange program about surfing.

“What happened to everyone?” he starts to rub his eyes, trying to get rid of the sleepiness that clings to him just like the warm blanket he is covered by.

“I know not. You started to hulk out so I pulled you outside. We fought and when you calmed down no one was here.”

“We fought? I hope I did not hurt you much.”

“Come on Banner, you know you can’t hurt the Mighty Thor!”

“Sure, sure. So how long did it take for me to kick your ass this time?” he grins softly. He never spent much time with Thor before. Before they escaped Sakkar and helped to save the Asgardians from Hella. Before they spent months on a ship together, before they lost all of them. Now Bruce thinks of Thor as one of his closest friends and loves to tease him. But now he decides to leave it be, too hungry to care about the fight. “I’m going to make some of that frozen pizza we have. You want some?”

“Sure” Thor replies enthusiastically as always when food is involved.

“Great, you can tell me what I’ve missed while being out as we eat.”

Bruce made four pizzas and was jealously guarding his own, while Thor polished his three and still looked for a piece from him. Thor told him what he knew, that Strange, Rhodes and the Spiderboy left some time ago, but the other are still there. Bruce did not want to think about Steve, did not want to Hulk again and therefore was glad when Steve did not show up whole afternoon. But as the afternoon progressed, he started to worry. Where are those who left with Tony? They should be back already. So he asked FRIDAY.

When Friday connected them via the TVs the sight of Pepper, not to mention the level of noise behind her left them both speechless.

“Yes, Tony is with me” she starts, deadpan.

Bruce can feel his eyes widening even more, he has never seen the woman in a state like this. Looks aside, she looks like she survived another attack on New York, just this time she was in the middle of it with them. “Pepper! What happened? You look… I mean…” Bruce really does not know how to say it politely. “Do you need help?” he finishes lamely.

She does not have a chance to reply, for the blurry line running behind her suddenly changes its direction towards the TV and stops, almost toppling it backwards “Bucie! Twow! We-e you?”

“Little Stark-son! Who took your garments? Just give me their name and I shall avenge you!” that gets the boy giggling again. He was crying and running and hiding for almost two hours now and the adults in the Tower were at their wits end.

“Tony took gaw… gaw… cwothes.” the boy admits with a mischievous smile, but quickly sobers as tears return into his eyes. “Ftee-en left Tony blankie. Whewe blankie? Tony no find” he finishes pitifully.

“Blankie? What is a blankie sweety and where is Stephen?” the picture transmitted through the TV might not be perfect, but Bruce still catches the guilty looks at Pepper and Rhodey’s faces. He is fairly sure they have something to do with Stephen’s sudden disappearance. The man was like a mama bear while in the Compound, Bruce doubts he would leave the boy without significant force. But mentioning Stephen was apparently the wrong thing to do, for upon hearing his name the little boy just crumbles. He slumps to the ground like a wet noodle and starts to cry louder than ever before. It is hard to understand between the sobs and gasps, but words “Ftee-en” and “Blankie” are pretty clear.

Pepper slides down the couch, sitting on the floor and pulls the sobbing child into her arms. She dispassionately pushes down the disgusted shudder at the feeling of snot covered face being rubbed against her neck, at least the sounds are little bit muffled now. “I don’t know what this blankie is, Strange said something about his special cloak.”

“Yeah it is that red cloak he always wears to look like a douchebag” Rhodey grouches, still little bit pissed at Strange for first insulting them and then abandoning them with their favorite little snot monster. “We left it with the bots in the lab at the Compound. Not a chance we can go for it now. Little guy needs to go sleep soon and the ride would take two hours.”

“Your ride maybe, but Stormbreaker can take me there in twenty minutes. I can bring him the wizard’s cloak.” Thor offers and then raises his voice a little. “Friend Anthony! I shall bring you thy blankie”

“Weally?” the child raises its head quickly, smashing his head into Pepper’s chin, making her teeth click. He disregards it completely and keeps staring at Thor.

“Aye, but you need to promise me something.”

“Wat?”

“You shall stop crying and bathe while I get there.”

“Why?”

Something mischievous glints in the god’s eyes “You do not want to smell like poo when I get there and give you your blankie, do you?” the adults hardly hold back their laugh at the silly question and at the indignant gasp coming from Tony.

“I no smell like poo! YOU POO!” the anger helps to overcome the floodgates in a second. “Tell!” he commands Pepper who is trying to hide her giggles. She makes a show of sniffing the boy’s hair and proclaims “I smell no poo” she can see the boy’s chest puff out so she quickly adds “but I see a lot of dirt! Thor is right, you need a bath.”

Tony looks around, carefully peering into their faces trying to find the weak one who will let him get away without a bath, but finds none. His little shoulders visibly slump down when he returns to the TV “Okay” he sounds like the most unhappy child in the world “see soon. Bye bye.”

 

It is not even half an hour later when a clean scrubbed boy falls asleep carefully wrapped in a semi-sentient magical cloak.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of background on Stephen, about his old relationships and how he deals with what happened in the Park.

Stephen is disgusted. Disgusted by them, by this whole day, by his puked on shirt, but mostly… mostly disgusted by himself. His own inability to hold back his feelings long enough to leave with the rest of his dignity intact. His own naiveté in believing that he could finally have someone who he considered his equal to love him.

He walks the Sanctum searching for anyone, anything to distract himself but he is alone. Room after stuffy room, each full of magical artifacts he would have never dreamed of five years ago. All those wonders, all those endless possibilities, but there is nothing to catch his attention, nothing interesting that would take his mind off of the spiral of agony and depression he can feel rising inside. Nothing can take away that pain of knowing the one you love does not return your feelings, does not even think you are worth mentioning to his family.

Stephen is alone, as he always has been. He thought, dared to hope these last few years that maybe his fate has finally changed, that maybe the essence of his very being changed with him becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. But no, there it is, his own darkness, familiar as the smell of his mother’s favorite perfume even though he did not smell it for years, familiar as the laugh of his sister when he chased her in the backyard when they were kids. So many years he tried to run from this helplessness and crushing loneliness, from the feeling that there is no one in the world who truly knows him, no one who he trusts enough to open up to.

The worst thing is, Stephen knows he is the one at fault, relationship after relationship failed for the same reason. The other person never knew him, never loved him. All they saw was a mask, a persona.

Gregory, his first boyfriend, back when he was almost a teenager still, saw a son from a rich family, running away from the oppressive life of son to rich parents. He saw him as a person who hates privileged life and the responsibilities stemming from it. And Stephen let him, let him see what he wished to see, he talked about all the functions his parents ‘forced’ him to go, how they forced him to go to NYU. It was easier to agree than to argue with him. Gregory came from a middle class family and had his views on those richer than him firmly set and Stephen did not want to lose him. Truth was, Stephen never minded. He was not blind as so many of his peers, to hardships those without money faced. His parents were loving, even spoiling him after they lost his sister, doing everything they could to ensure that the one child they had left would remain with them. They didn’t even push him to become a doctor, it was something he himself have chosen, in love with the feeling of holding a life in his own hands. At the end Gregory broke up with his nonetheless. He cited Stephen’s coldness as the reason, he felt that Stephen was not committed to their relationship and that he was keeping his distance, always holding him at arm’s length. How could he explain that it was simply how he was brought up? He loved him, he just couldn’t make himself say it.

After that came Michael, who Stephen met during his time as an intern at John Hopkins. Remembering the reason why Greg left him, Stephen tried to be more open, to talk about what he wanted, how happy he was to be with Mike. It was almost a year later when Mike admitted, that he had a fiance back in Boston and he fully intended to go back to her, marry her, do the whole white picket fence shebang. His affair with Stephen was never much more than, well… an affair. He admitted to being fascinated by him, a cultured, ambitious man with a perfect memory, but Stephen’s affections grew too strong and it made him uncomfortable. Michael apparently considered him more of a ‘fuckbuddy’ that a partner, despite them living together.

So after he returned back to New York and started his residency at Metro-General he was not looking for anything permanent, those were some of his wilder years, some even called it his ‘Tony Stark phase’, a rich boy acting like a prick, fucking everything that moves… how ironic. He brought his sarcasm into perfection, his cutting tongue ensuring that no one gets too close. He never had many friends even before, but during this phase he lost them all. He was either at the hospital, intent to become chief of neuro or chasing tail in one of the bars nearby. It had downsides, but his ruthlessness and dedication to his new job allowed him to first become senior resident and then offered fellowship. His reputation grew and so did his ego. Until she came.  

Till this day he can’t really pinpoint the moment when his phase stopped, well disappeared for a while and he started dating Christine. Maybe two months after he slept with her for the first time? Suddenly he had a feeling that everywhere he went, she was there, 9 times out of 10 if he looked for a hookup, he ended up with her. It started as a convenience, why would he go to bar and made an effort when he had a willing girl right there in the hospital? Slowly he stopped seeing other people, then they  started to have lunch together in the cafeteria until one day she gave him an anniversary present and he realized that he slipped into another relationship without even meaning to. He observed her behavior for a long time, still feeling as if she pushed him into their relationship without his knowing and he didn’t even know if he wanted to be with her. He did not love her, not truly. 

But… but she was so different from the others, she did not see his money or his sharp mind, or what he can get for her. She saw a human, flawed, torn, brilliant human. Someone she deemed him worthy of her love despite his many flaws. It boosted his ego immensely, but in a good way. He tried to be be better, tried to the man she deserved, tried to live up to her perception of him. It was then when he allowed himself to believe again, just a bit, that maybe his story has a happy ending. That he can manage to hide his true nature and even if he’d slip, she won’t leave him. Until one day he didn’t quite manage, he developed a new procedure, something that could revolutionize the field of neurosurgery and he was proud, so so proud when he submitted it for the Harper-Avery award. He didn’t win, but was nominated and even that is a feat in the medical field, an honor for only the best. When she found out, she called him a selfish bastard and broke up with him. For she believed that she deserved to be on the nomination as well, that she helped him develop it and deserved her share of fame for it. Truth was she did help, but mainly with data analysis and testing. He was the one who came with the hypothesis, he came up with the idea! He was absolutely flabbergasted when he got home and found his apartment trashed.with Christine standing in the middle, bags packed at her feet and yelling like a banshee. A lot of things were said that night, things that cannot be taken back. Like she manipulated him, how she wanted to take credit for his idea…. How he is a soulless bastard, how cold he is and how stupid she was for ever believing him capable of love for someone else than himself. Their breakup was hard, mainly because of the rumors and dirty looks he’s got from the hospital staff, but soon there was a new scandal and people forgot and Stephen returned to his lonely life of chasing one night stands and occasional day drinking. Until the fateful night of the crash that almost ruined his life.

 

When Stephen will recall this night later, he will remember only parts, like pictures coming out of the thick fog clouding his brain. Each picture so different from the next that it looks like they’re cut from different movies.

 

He will remember sitting in a chair, crying so hard he feels like his head is going to explode. Holding back sobs, making sure no one can hear him and see his shame until his palate is numb and he can barely breath.

 

He will remember pacing, angry at his own foolishness. How could he ever hope for Tony’s love? The man is like a rare comet, brilliant and burning, a phenomenon you’ll meet only once in your life. Stephen is not worthy, he is disgraced, crippled doctor without a dime to his name. So what if he is the Sorcerer Supreme? All he knows he learned from books and just because of his photographic memory, Tony is a genius, capable of creating life out of nothing without magic, without aid just by the power of his beautiful mind.

 

Then crying again, but not about the unfairness of it all, but about how pathetic he is. Weak and useless, unable to accept his fate. How could Tony love him? He is not worthy. He couldn’t save his sister, couldn’t save any of his relationships…. 

 

He will remember the moment when he found the old and rare bottle of whiskey, a present he’s got from Tony when they finished the first part of their project. The alcohol soothes his nerves and clears his mind. He used to sit here and think about returning to Christine after becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, he knew she would take him back if he apologized enough, he could see it in her eyes, but… but she was part of his old life, of who he was before and he didn’t want to go back, not anymore.

But now, now he thought about it again.

He always wanted someone to be there for him, someone he could maybe start a family with and he knew she could be that person for him, even if she wasn’t Tony, even if she did not make his heart speed up everytime he saw her.

But it would be so… comfortable, so easy, she would take care of the menial things, food and organizing vacations and stuff and he would focus on his position as Sorcerer Supreme. And they would have kids. It would be his own white picket fence….

 

He will remember opening a portal and standing in front of Christine’s door, hand raised and ready to knock.


	10. Chapter 10

This is shaping up to be one of the worst mornings of Pepper's life. This might be even worse than the morning after Stark Expo when Hammer’s robots went rogue and she had to handle the public outrage.

Tony, in spirit of every small child ever, woke up at 5:30 AM full of energy and ready to meet the world head on. He could not let her sleep for few more minutes, no, better plan was to start jumping up and down on the bed yelling “HUNGWYYYY!!!” so loudly she though her eardrum will burst. Not to mention she got a kick or two when she wasn’t fast enough to avoid his flailing limbs. If only adult Tony would share his enthusiasm for food.

They had Lucky Charms for breakfast, because she is a CEO, not a cook and could easily burn water without even trying. If she’ll find any new grey hair after this week, she is sure they come from this breakfast. It took the boy solid 40 minutes to finish one small bowl of cereals. First he spilled most of the content of the box on the table (she honestly did not have the strength to say no before her first coffee) and spent 10 minutes dividing the cereals and ‘Charms’. Then he divided all the Charms based on their shape and put those he wanted into his bowl - hearts, rainbows and leaf clovers. Do not ask her why those, she doesn’t know either. Then he added the actual cereals and she helped him get the milk even though he glared and complained that “Tony big. Do alone!” Yeah sure, the milk bottle was bigger than him. Finally the bowl was finished and he could start eating.

She sighed in relief and allowed her mind to wander a bit, maliciously contemplating asking FRIDAY to wake those two traitors who left her alone with him and went to sleep on their own floors yesterday. When she finally stopped imagining their outraged expressions there was a smile on her face, smile that dropped the moment she noticed Tony and his almost full bowl of cereals.

Despite yelling how hungry he was, he sure was making sure to eat it as slowly as possible. She watched him for a minute and then noticed he ate only the colorful pieces and the plain ones were left in the milk, slowly turning into a mush.

“Sweetie, you need to eat faster or your cereals will go mushy.”

“You no eat fast, then belly huwt.”

What can she say to that logic? “Then at least eat also the plain cereals not only the Charms.”

“No! Fiwst cowow then bwown.” the look he gave her, like she was utterly stupid for not knowing you’re to eat all the Charms first then the cereals, made her eye start twitching. She decided to leave him to it, at least he was quiet and went to pour herself another cup of coffee.

Another 10 minutes of snail-fast eating and all the Charms were gone. Tony scooped the remaining brown goo, put it into his mouth and then promptly spit it out. “Mushy!!!” as if she did not told him that it is exactly what’s gonna happen. She looked at him, noticing the protruding lower lip and hint of tears in the whiskey brown eyes and decided not to argue. She took the bowl, goo and everything and took a new from the cupboard, quickly filling it with cereals and milk, she made sure there were no Charms in it this time. Luckily the boy did not protest and devoured it in no time. She would do without the slurping of the milk at the end, but milk is good for bones and she just wanted to avoid any argument with him. 

Tony, by then refuelled by the magical energy of Lucky Charms categorically refused to sit down and watch some nice fairytale. He wanted to play tag with the cloak and the stupid thing complied. She tried to yell, plead, even tried to chase after them, all in vain. The little boy was slippery like an eel and fast and anytime she got close, the stupid cloak got between her and Tony, blocking her access. Probably Strange’s doing. The first chance to stop them came 20 minutes later, while she was sitting slumped on the sofa. The boy tried to squeeze between her and the coffee table to avoid his adversary and she quickly grabbed him.

The meltdown was truly spectacular to watch. First a gasp when Tony realized he is no longer moving, then spin when he looked at his thin wrist grabbed in her hand. He looked into her eyes and she could see the anger rolling in there like a heavy storm above an ocean. Suddenly his knees gave up and he slumped down to the ground, held upright only be her hand and started wailing. No clear words made it through the noise, but the pitch of the crying got higher and higher. 

She always knew she is not suitable to be a mother, but when Tony told her about his dream of her being pregnant, she could imagine it, with him, for him…. She could imagine raising a brilliant boy with whiskey brown eyes full of energy and mischief, the carbon copy of the carefree Tony Stark she knew once. She saw him in Tony’s arms, both covered by grease, clutching something they just invented together and proudly presenting it to her. She saw them snuggling in a bed on a lazy Sunday morning, no worries, no fears, just love, warmth and pure happiness.

For the smallest moment, looking into Tony's eyes she thought she might be able to handle it.

For him, to make him happy.

Now looking at the crying boy holding his wrist, she was glad she did not give in to his pleas. She would be a horrible mother.

 

She doesn’t know how long it took but the wailing eventually diminishes into quiet sniffling. The boy is sitting on the sofa, snuggled with the cloak and watching some fairytale. He refuses to even look in Pepper’s direction.

To make the morning even worse, FRIDAY just told her that Steve Rogers requests entrance into the penthouse. What does he want? What if he came to take Tony, she can’t let him!

“Is he alone?”

“No, Mr. Wilson, Mr, Barnes, Mr. Odinson and Dr. Banner are with him.”

She sighs in relief upon hearing the last two names, Bruce and Thor would help her against them if they tried anything, they would stand no chance against the god and the Hulk.

“You can let them in. Please notify Rhodey and Happy so they’re not surprised when they finally decide to join us.”

Not even 5 minutes later the elevator doors open and out spil the five men. She can see their shock at her appearance, they never saw her in pyjama and bed hair before. They shake it off quickly and approach her.

Before she can open her mouth, Tony too notices the newcomers and runs towards Bruce with open arms and fresh tears streaming down his face.

“Buuuuce.”

Bruce picks him up and Tony immediately wraps his hands around his neck, almost choking him.

“Hey sweetheart. Why the tears again? Hmm?” he swings them left and right, while Thor gently strokes the boy’s hair over his shoulder.

The boy mumbles something in response, but it is very soft and his head is buried in Bruce’s sweater. “What is it Tony?” he asks again, kissing his little forehead, trying to coax him to lift his head.

It does work, Tony lifts his head a little and whispers “I miss Mommy and Daddy. When they back?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry my love, but it is still few more days.” they all agreed that explaining the de-aging spell to such a young boy, especially if it should not last more than a week, could cause more harm than good.

“Oh” he sounds so dejected that every adult in the room just wants to grab him and protect him from everything forever. “Tony go wif you?” there is a hint of hope in his eyes.

“Don’t you like it here with Pepper?” Bruce asks surprised, he would expect Tony to attach himself to Pepper and refuse to let go.

“No, she mean, she made au au.” he raises his wrist up for inspection. Bruce doesn’t see any bruising, but gently grabs the offered limb, blows at it and gently kisses it.

“Is it better now?” he asks seriously.

Tony’s smile could outshine the Sun. “Yay! No huwt! Luuv you Buce.”

“I love you too sweetie.”

“Pay with Twow now!”

“At your service young Anthony! What shall be the game?”

“Howsie!!!”

“Horsie? Your wish is my command.” with that he takes the kid from Bruce and deposits him on his broad shoulders.

“Buuuce wook! Tony big!”

“Yes you are, the tallest here, but hold tight so you won’t fall off, promise?”

“Pwomise!”

Bruce satisfied with the development slowly turns towards the group that was so quiet by now. He does not care about Rogers and the others who came with him, no, he is looking at Pepper.

“Why did he told me you hurt his wrist?”

She gulps, she can clearly see green swirling in his eyes. She never actually met him in his other form and she never wants to. She hastily explains: “He was playing tag with the cloak, running around and was not listening to me. I was sitting on the sofa and when he ran past me, I took the opportunity and grabbed him. I happened to catch his wrist. But I did not grab him firmly I swear, at least I did not think I did. Is he alright Bruce? Did I hurt him?”

Bruce can see the worry and a hint of tears in her eyes and knows that she really didn’t want to hurt him. Maybe even didn’t because he could see no bruising, no red on the boy’s hand. Maybe it was more of a shock, a scare that made him cry and his child brain connected it with his wrist. It sometimes happened with children. “He is alright Pep. I saw no bruising, but I will look again in an hour to see if none appeared, okay?”

“Thank you Bruce. So, so much.” she comes to him, pulling him into a hug.

It takes him by surprise, they never hugged before, she did not seem like the hugging type, but it was probably the exhaustion. He could see the bruises underneath her eyes.

 

“Why are you here?” she asks, once she finally releases him.

It is Steve who answers. “We came to take Tony back to the Compound, it is not safe for him here.”

Before she can tell him what exactly he can do with his opinion, there is a bang and Rhodey and Happy spill from the elevator, almost tripping each other in their haste.

“Hey! Step away from the lady and the kid pal!” Happy yells, waving a gun in Steve’s direction , looking like some lunatic.

“Happy! Are you crazy? Put away the gun now!” Will this loony bin never end?

“But Pepper! He...!”

“No! I don’t want to hear it! There is a child in here and you bring a gun?!”

“I just wanted to defend you” he grumbles under his breath.

“Well, I don’t need to be defended. Or do I Captain?” she looks at Steve with a look that could freeze an ocean.

“What? No! Why would you think…”

“Don’t try to bullshit us, we know exactly what you did to Tony! I will not let you….” Happy starts again.

“I… we… we just…” Steve doesn’t know what to say. He did not expect a warm welcome, but this is beyond anything he expected. He is looking at Tony’s bodyguard, who still has the gun in hand even though he is no longer pointing it at him. “We… there was the news and we thought that Tony might be in danger, so….” He trails off helplessly.

Bruce steps forward, he sent Thor with the kid away at the first sight of the man with the gun, placing himself between the room where they are and the others. “Let me do the explaining Rogers. But Happy, please go return the gun from where you took it. We all know that only a moment of inattention and it will be in Tony’s hands. I promise you no harm will come to Tony and Pepper while I am here. I will wait with my explanation till you come back.” there is a steel in his voice they never heard before. Wherever Bruce was while he was away, it changed him, gave him more confidence and surety of his own standing.

Happy grudgingly complies and rushes back to his floor to return the gun to its safety box.

“Please sit and calm down. I will check on Thor and Tony.”

The boy and the god are sitting on Tony’s bed, doing what looks like comparing the size of their feet. Tony’s little foot looks ridiculously small against Thor’s big paw.

“Hey guys, everything okay?”

“Bucie wook! Twow foot biiig.”

“Yeah buddy. Thor is a big guy, makes sense he will have big feet.” He smiles at the excited boy gently. He was worried that he would be scared, but it seems that the noise from the other room did not even register with him, too busy studying Thor.

“Tony too?”

“I’m sure if you’ll eat all your veggies, you’ll get as big as Thor.” he turns to the god “You alright here? I’m gonna explain why we came, give me 5 more minutes, okay?”

Thor winks in response. Bruce is happy to see him so relaxed, playing with little Tony does him good. Thor did not have much reasons to be happy since Thanos destroyed their ship. Not all the casualties were caused by the snap and not all of them could be reversed. None of the Asgardians came back, his best friend and his brother did not either.

Bruce returns to the living room, noticing Happy is back. “Pepper, did you have a chance to look at the news today?”

“No, what happened?”

“Someone saw you with Tony in the Park yesterday and now the tabloids are full of news about it. FRIDAY maybe you could show us some of it on the TV?”

“Certainly Dr. Banner.” The TV lit up, quickly filling by pictures of Pepper with little Tony in her arms accompanied by headlines like SECRET STARK HEIR REVEALED, STARK HAVING A CHILD WITH HIS CEO, BABY AVENGER REVEALED.

“No one can deny that the child is a Stark. Paparazzi are already swarming the entrance hall. However we were afraid that not all will believe that Tony has a son, someone may put two and two together and figure out that it is actually Tony and may decide to use his vulnerable state to try and hurt him. We came here to ask you to move to the Compound so he can be better protected.”

All eyes are on Pepper now, as if she is the one in charge of the boy. Suddenly she wishes Strange would get back. His magic and portals could come handy in escaping any dangerous situation. She doesn’t trust Steve and his team, but she can see their point.

Suddenly an idea comes to her, the Avengers are clearly desperate to get Tony back and she can use it. She did not become Tony's PA and later CEO by giving up such chances. She turns to the others:

“Why would be Tony safer in the Compound? This is his Tower, his home.”

“Miss Potts” Wilson starts, we, the other Avengers do not have the same privileges here and our equipment is in the Compound. Maybe if you were to grant us these privileges….”

“No.” The word is quiet, but sure, final. There is no way in hell she would give them access to the Tower even if Happy would allow it. And he wouldn't, it was clear from his expression.

“Then allow us to take him back with us. You can come too of course.” Thank you Captain Obvious, like she would let Tony in HIS hands. In hands of a man who almost killed him. She does not reply to Steve and turns back to Bruce who laid his hand on her forearm.

“Pepper, I promise you that no harm will come to Tony in there, I swear.” He pleads, she can see he is sincere, he would do anything to protect his friend.

“Tell me Bruce how can I let him go back to the house where this  _ man  _ lives?” The word man had so much contempt in it that Steve physically flinched. “How can I let him go with a man who almost killed him, gave him the worst PTSD I've ever seen and then forced him to live with him in the same building?”

“What do you mean forced him?” Bruce's voice trembles a little, he already knows that this is another secret they kept from him, another way how they hurt his friend.

This time it is Rhodey who answers. “After Thanos, the UN wanted to reunite the Avengers under their thumb, they even adjusted the Accords so that  _ he _ is satisfied.” The dirty look he throws Steve's way makes it clear who he means. “He insisted on a condition where all Avengers must live together in the Compound and attend regular meetings and team exercises under his command. If they do not do so, they will be excluded from the Avengers Initiative.”

“I just wanted us to get where we were before! It was the only way how to get Tony to work with me, he refused any attempt at contact!”

Silence rules the room. Everyone is looking at Bruce, awaiting his reaction.

Bruce takes a deep breath, then another and another, will these nasty surprises never stop? How could they fuck up so much in the two years he was gone?

He turns back to Steve. “Captain” he starts formally “you will go back to the Committee and request a removal of that condition immediately, or you will find yourself facing the Hulk.” It was said matter of factly, but they could see Bruce meant every single word. He did not raise his voice, he did not move forward, but his voice carried a clear order. An order that gave them no choice but to follow.

“But…”

“No but. I don’t care about your reasons, Tony is my friend and I will not have you hurting him again. You have time by the end of tomorrow. Do not disappoint me.”

Steve could not do more than nod, he knew Banner was serious and he knew that despite his Serum neither he nor Bucky would stand a chance against enraged Hulk.

“Now, when that is solved” Bruce turns back to Pepper, noticing the victorious glint in her eyes and understanding immediately that this was her plan all along “I think you can agree to return to the Compound and deal with the press from there.”

“I do, thank you Bruce. Let me go get Tony.”

She does not get far, the little boy is already out of the room, pulling an empty bowl from the table.

‘Appyyyy. Woook, Tony caw. WRRRRRR WRRRR, he is holding the cereal bowl from breakfast in front of him, using it as a makeshift steering wheel. The remains of the milk dripping on the marble floors. “We dwive today?”

“Maybe later squirt, we need to get you back to the Compound now.”

“Why?”

Rhodey could see him struggling so he decided to help “The bots are missing you and want to play.”

“Okay!” Tony agrees, face full of childish glee at the information. Then he notices the TV still frozen on a picture of him in Pepper’s arm surrounded by the others.

“Yay Tony in TV, wook!” he runs closer to have a closer look. He pokes the screen for a minute then turns his attention back towards the adults. “Petey and Ftee-en thewe?”

“No, they are not sweetie” Bruce lifts him up and takes the still dripping bowl from his hands. “They’re not, but I promise we can call them once we get there, okay?”

“Yay!”


	11. Chapter 11

Peter wakes up to the sound of his phone pinging again, again and again. Something had to happen, those are the alarms he set for when Tony’s name or the Avengers were mentioned in major news station or papers.

He blindly reaches for his phone and unlocks it, squinting against the bright light. There are 45 alerts, apparently someone saw them in the Park yesterday and thought baby Tony was his and Pepper’s secret child.

“Peter breakfast!” Aunt May pounds on his door “Just because it is Saturday it does not mean you can sleep all day! It’s 9AM!” Peter groans and covers his head by a pillow.

“Peteeeer. Rise and shiiine.” She sing-songs behind the door. She is weirdly cheery for just returning from a night shift.

“Oh, come on May! 5 more minutes”

“No! I made you eggs and they are getting cold! No one likes cold eggs. So if you don’t want me to storm in there and drag you out myself, you will get out right this instant.”

Peter groans, but slowly starts to move. He is sure her threat was a plain one, but he is not gonna risk it. There is lots of groaning and flailing, but in the end Peter stands in from of his aunt, iron man pyjamas and all.

 

Peter drags himself to the table, flopping himself on the chair. The eggs look divine and he does not wait another second to devour them.

He is shoveling them in as fast as possible, when he notices that May is not eating much, but instead is staring at him.

“Whaf?” he asks with his mouth full and feels a bit drop back to the plate.

“Ewww, gross.”

“Come on Aunt May, spit it out. I can see you want something.”

“Sooo… me and the girls” read the other nurses from her hospital, none of them what you would call a girl age wise “saw the news and they said that Tony Stark had a baby. Did you know about it all this time? Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

He can see her practically vibrating in excitement. What is it with woman and babies? “Eh, you know” he starts to rub the back of his head in a nervous gesture that always gives him away.

“So you knew he did!”

“NO! I mean….” How can he explain it? Should he? Wouldn’t be the other Avengers mad if he reveals the secret? “Mr. Stark does not have a child.” he finishes lamely.

“Oh, come on Pete! I saw the pictures, the kid must belong to Stark, he looks just like him!”

“Auntie please, I can’t tell you anything.”

“Petey, my boy, my sweet, sweet boy, you can tell me anything you know that. I won’t tell anyone, I swear.” she looks at him pleadingly, hand resting on his arm “You believe me, don’t you?”

What can he say to that? Of course he knows he can trust her. “It is not Tony’s child, it is Tony himself. They found him yesterday morning in his bed like that. Someone magically de-aged him.”

“Really? That poor dear! Does he remember who he is?”

“No, he does not remember anything past the age he is in, somewhere between 3 and 4.”

“He must be so so scared.”

“Yeah, he misses his mom and dad a lot” Peter’s voice is full of regret. The topic of parents far from one of his favorite. “But” he tries to cheer himself and May back up “it looks like on some basic level he knows who he trusts as an adult and he still likes me. You want to see some pictures?”

“Yeah!” Pete did not see her so excited since Tony first showed up in their apartment. She even claps her hands and bounces like a child. He started to suspect a long time ago that her feelings towards the genius are not purely platonic.

He brings the phone and shows her the pictures from the Park, he even has one where puked on Stephen holds little Tony as far away from himself as possible. She goes through the pictures several times, squealing and sighing ‘how cuuute’ tiny Tony is until she stops at the last one.

“Who is this?”

“That is Dr. Stephen Strange, he is a sorcerer.”

“Like Harry Potter?”

“Not quite, but he can make a portal that will take you from one side of Earth to other in a second.”

“Wow, that is a superpower you should have! We could travel the world and I would never be late for work because of traffic again.” she pokes in the chest him good naturally. She looks back at the picture. “He is very handsome. Is he single?”

“Ehm, I though Tony is more your type?” he just can’t let this opportunity to taunt her go to waste.

“Peter Benjamin Parker how dare you!” she smacks his shoulder dramatically. “I… I mean, he IS Tony Stark and what woman never thought about.... But I am your aunt and this is not an appropriate topic!” He can see the corners of her lips twitch though.

“Apparently it is not only women who find Mr. Stark irresistible, sorcerers too.”

“Ooooh, really? So they are like, like together?” her voice took the tone every good gossip from around the world perfected - low conspiratory whispering. She is sitting at the edge of the seat, eyes impossibly big and imploring.

“No they are not.” Did her shoulders seriously just drop from disappointment? “But I think they will be.”

“Really? Why?” and the excitement is back on.

“I saw how they look at each other, they are into each other I’m sure. I think Stephen was the reason why Mr. Stark broke up with Ms. Potts.”

Before she can ask another question, his phone starts ringing. The caller ID says Dr. Banner, but Bruce’s face is not the only one he sees when he opens the video chat.

“Petey!” and May, who started to pull away to give him some privacy promptly smushes her face next to his.

“Ooooh hi baby. You are so adorable.” Peter is highly disturbed by her ability to switch from a fairly normal, classy, educated woman into… into… THIS!

“Hi!” the small boy waves into the camera “I Tony. Who you?”

“I am May. I’m Peter’s auntie.”

“Hi pwetty Auntie!”

“Oooh you little flatterer. I’m sure all the ladies love you.”

“Uhmm, May, could you please….” Peter tries to gently shove her away from the phone.

“Alright, alright. I’m going. I’m going to find the Iron Man mask you got at the Expo when you were little. You can take it to Tony, I’m sure he will like it.”

“But Maaay! That’s mine!”

“Oh hush, you can at least borrow it to him.”

“Okay” Peter grumbles dejectedly, he knows there is no sense in arguing with her now. He turns back to his phone and grinning Bruce and Tony.

“Do you need something guys?”

“Come pway wif Tony!”

“Sure buddy! Where are you, in the Tower?”

“No, we came back to the Compound, it is safer here.” Bruce finally gets a word in.

“Call Ftee-en too.”

“Okay, I will call him and then head to you. Should I bring something?”

“No it’s fine, we have everything. Actually if your aunt allows it you could sleep in here if you want. I’m sure Tony would like it.”

Tony nods very enthusiastically.

“That would be soo cool Dr. Banner! Thank you. She has a night shift again so I know she won’t mind. Be there in a bit! Bye.”

“Bye, bye!”

 

In no time at all, Peter stands in front of the double door of Sanctum Sanctorum, a bag with his his favorite PJs and his favorite Iron Man mask in hand. He did not want to take it, but his aunt insisted. It is not that he doesn't want to share it with Tony, but the mask holds a special place in his heart. He’s got it at the Stark Expo and he had it on his head when he met Tony for the first time, when he saved his life from a rouge Hammer bot. It is cheaply made, but has a sentimental value and he is afraid that little Tony will accidentally destroy it. But maybe he could ask Dr. Strange to put a protection spell on it like they do it Harry Potter?

That idea cheers him up and he quickly ascends the stairs and pushes the double door open. He tried to call the doctor several times, but he did not pick up. Peter did not want to disappoint Tony by showing up without his Ftee-en and decided to check in with him here.

It is not the first time he is in the Sanctum, Tony sometimes took him along when visiting, but it always surprises him that such a big, old fashioned place still exists smack dab in the middle of modern Manhattan.

“Doctor Strange?” he calls when the man does not appear at the top of the staircase as usual. A wizard shows up, but it is not the one he is looking for. “Mr. Wong where is Doctor?”

“He is not here.”

“Where did he go? I promised Tony I'll bring him to the Compound.”

“I don’t know. I thought he is with you and Stark. I just got here” a worried line appears on the older man's face. It is not like his friend to just disappear and leave the Sanctum unguarded without a good reason. “Did you try to call him?”

“Yes, I did, but he did not pick up.”

“Hmm that's strange, let me try.” They can hear a faint melody coming from deeper part of the building. They follow it, but find only half drank bottle of whisky and the phone, Stephen nowhere in sight.

“Do you think something might happen to him? Or did he just leave it here? He had a pretty big fight with Ms. Potts yesterday.”

Wong just rolls his eyes, he already suspects what might have happened to the man. He drowned his sorrow in whisky and went to find a one night stand. “Come, I have a spell that will tell us where he is, we shouldn't really use it if it's not an emergency, but who knows what happened to that idiot.”

Soon enough they have a location and Wong opens a portal into a strange hallway, right in front of doors with a brass number 37.

 

Peter waits until Wong closes the portal before knocking. The door is opened by a blond lady, mid-thirties in an oversized grey T-shirt and seemingly nothing else.

“How can I help you?” she asks cheerily.

Peter takes a moment to ogle her legs, he is a healthy teenage boy after all, before looking into her face and realizing he does not know what to say. Wong hid behind a corner, so he can use a moment of surprise in case the situation turns dangerous and now Pete really regrets he did not think of switching places with him. He has no idea what to say to her.

She opens the door wider “Are you okay? Do you need help?”

“Who is it Christine? You know you shouldn’t open door just to anyone!” comes a voice from behind her, a voice Peter knows very well. He pushes past her and stops dead at the entrance to the living room. There, spread on a couch like he owns the place, lies Doctor Stephen Strange, dressed in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs.

The sorcerer startles upon seeing him there, quickly pushing up, but before he can straighten, Peter is upon him.

“You asshole!” he shoves him hard enough to make him fall back and move the couch half a meter away “I...I trusted you! How could you do this to him!”

“Peter…”

“NO! Do not peter me! He loves you! I know he does and you sleep with the first random bi…”

“ENOUGH!” Stephen is back on his feet, mad as hell “How dare you come in here and insult me and Christine?!”

“How I dare?” Peter voice goes into a pitch “Just because you were jealous…”

“NOT ANOTHER WORD!” he moves his hand and thick sparkling ropes wrap around the teenager, binding his arms and covering his mouth. Peter struggles against the bonds, but they resist his super strength, all he can do is glare at the man he held in such a high regard.

Stephen is so angry he can barely speak, his mind registers Christine, now accompanied by Wong standing at the door. At least that answers the question how the boy found him. He slumps back on the couch, hiding his face in his palms, forcing himself to breathe slower and count to ten, then twenty.

“Wong, is there any emergency?” he asks without lifting his head, he can still feel Peter’s glare burning through the crown of his head.

“No, not that I know of. The kid came to the Sanctum searching for you, said he wanted to take you to the Compound with him.”

Stephen chances a look at Peter “Is there any emergency?”

The boy just glares, his face all red from anger.

“Peter! Is there any emergency?!” Stephen asks again, angrily cutting one word from another.

Finally the boy shakes his head no, if barely.

Stephen sighs and allows himself to relax a bit. “Not that you deserve any explanation after your theatrics, but this is Dr. Christine Palmer, my former colleague from hospital.”

“Hi” she says shyly, still standing at the door, awkwardly pulling the hem of her shirt lower.

Peter mumbles something unintelligible.

“If I release the bond over your mouth will you promise not to yell again?”

Peter glares again, but reluctantly nods. Another wave of a hand and the bonds holding him shift. His arms are still tightly bound, but mouth is finally free. “I don’t care if she is a colleague or a one night stand you picked up in some bar. You shouldn’t done this to Tony!”

“This has nothing to do with him! I don’t know what has got into you, but Tony and I are just friends, nothing more!”

“Yeah, sure and I am Chinese.”

“Urghhh! You stupid child!” Stephen can’t hold it back anymore. He ignores the double indignant “hey!” coming from Christine and Wong. He grabs Peter’s face, forcing him to look into his eyes. “Listen to me very carefully now. I know you know that I love him, I’m not denying it. God half of the New York must already know, how could I deny it. But he doesn’t want me like that, he made it abundantly clear he does not reciprocate my feelings. So don’t you fucking judge me!” he shoves him away to the sound of another joined ‘hey’ from their peanut gallery.

He can’t bear the look in Peter’s eyes, the doubt, the pity he sees there, he turns towards the window.

“Are you sure? I thought…” comes an uncertain voice.

“He could not be more clear” he just can’t hide the bitterness in his voice anymore. "Please leave me alone.” he releases his bonds without looking back, he needs to keep his face in front of the boy. Stephen can hear quiet steps and then a hand appears on his shoulder “I am so sorry Stephen” and isn’t it ironic? That this is the very first time Peter calls him by his name and not a version of Dr. Sorcerer Strange he usually goes for despite Stephen’s explicit permission to use his first name?

He does not react, not even when he hears Wong offering to make the boy a portal to the Compound. He turns only when the familiar buzzing of a portal starts “Peter! If… if there is an emergency….” Tony does not love him back, but he cannot bear that they would not call him for help in case he is in danger.

“I will call you Stephen, don’t worry.”

He nods in thanks and watches as the portal closes behind the teenager.

 

He flops heavily on the couch, face hidden in palms again. He feels the couch dip slightly, alerting him Christine is there. “So the man you babbled about yesterday is actually Tony Stark? The Tony Stark?”

Stephen’s laugh is full of irony “Yes, yay me, right?”

“Isn’t he married to that CEO of his?”

“No, they are just engaged."

There is a silence for a few minutes then he feels her hand gently combing through his hair. “Why didn’t you tell the kid there was nothing between us last night?”

“What difference would it make? I came here with that intention.”

“You can fool yourself Stephen, but I know you better. You may have told yourself you just wanted sex, but I am 100% sure you would never go through with it even if I consented. What you wanted was a friend, someone who would listen to your crazy drunk-ass babbling about how perfect he is and what a bitch she is. I must say it would be much more easier for me to agree with you if you’d confessed you’re talking about our perfect Dr. Stark.” she nudges him playfully “I may have a fantasy or two about him too.”

“You can be such a cow sometimes.” he grumbles, but gratefully cuddles himself under her arm. The hangover is killing him.


	12. Chapter 12

Wanda is happy, happiest she could ever remember to be, living her own american dream. She is living in a huge, luxurious Compound, finally able to buy whatever she wants, travel the world and not worry about money. She has friends, Steve and Clint, who adore her and even Natasha, who, despite not being overly friendly in general, likes her, being grateful for saving her life during the fight with Thanos.

But mostly, she has Viz. She loves him like no one before and she knows he loves her right back and would do anything for her. They are inseparable ever since returning to the land of living, sharing a room at the Compound and traveling the world. They went to Paris, London, Shanghai, all the places she dreamed of when she was a teenager living in Sokovia.

There is only one stain on her happiness, one person who always ruins everything. Stark.

Isn’t it enough that he killed her parents? That he created a superbot who led to her beloved brother’s death? No. Even now he needs to ruin everything.

She and Viz were in Rome, enjoying the food and strolls through the beautiful ancient city, simply being in love, when they received the call from Steve. Something happened to Stark, someone tried to hurt him and now they must return to protect him. She was so angry, why would she need to sacrifice her vacation to ensure the safety of a man who she’d rather smother with a pillow? She argued and argued, but both Viz and Steve were insistent that they need to return immediately and gave her no choice.

If it would be up to her, Stark could rot. She was so mad when she found out he did not disappear during the Snap for if there is a person who deserves to die, it’s him. She can’t kill him, even if she wants to, really really wants to. She would lose everything, her status as an Avenger, her friends because Steve would not forgive her and maybe even Viz, who considers the prick as something as his creator. All she can do is trying to separate him from Viz as often as possible, carefully manipulating Viz to spend as little time with him as possible.

She tries to cheer herself up, she loved being in Rome, but being home can have its advantages, Steve said Stark was turned into a little boy and children’s minds are much easier to manipulate than adult minds. She trained with Viz for months to hone her magic. Her goal was to make her intrusions imperceptible, to be able to influence someone without their knowledge and de-aged Stark presents the best test subject, she will finally show him what a real suffering is, she will show him what it means to lose all hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I'm evil :)  
> But I will post the next chapter very soon.
> 
> Btw I really hate Wanda, did you notice? :P


	13. Chapter 13

Bruce had a great weekend. He did not laugh so much for such a long time, certainly not since he came back to Earth. Tony was such a sweet kid, curious and happy. He reminded him so much of his friend how he was when they’ve first met, that it hurt. The Tony he found here after his return was a changed man, sure he still joked around in inappropriate situations and invented one wonder after another, but there was this quiet desperation in him, like he expected an attack any minute.

Bruce must admit, at least to himself, that he did not notice immediately, too focused on reversing the Snap and fighting his own grief, everybody was desperate back then, millions and millions creatures died, whole species eradicated within seconds, but slowly, surely, he saw. The man who used to love being the center of attention was gone, replaced by a stranger whose smile never reached his eyes and opted for staying alone. He’s got better after they reversed the Snap, but the distance was there, the camaraderie he was used to among the Avengers gone.

He knew Tony, the old one at least, he knew that if he will push, Tony would simply close up and avoid him too. So he opted for observing, being there in case of need, but not forcing him to talk. Instead he went to Steve, asked him what happened. He could kick himself now for not investigating further, for not asking others, but who knew Steve is such a good liar? He was so mad after he saw the video, after he finally found the truth, mad at Steve, at the others, but mainly mad at himself. He could have done more, he should have done more for the man who was the first to accept him for who he is, Hulk and all.

Now he is afraid he lost the man he considers as one of his best friends. He loves Little Tony, but can’t wait till the adult is back, can’t wait to apologise, to be there for him and to try and restore their friendship to what it once was, to win back the trust he knows he doesn’t deserve. If he did not run like a coward, if he would stay, nothing would have happened. He read the Accords, asked FRIDAY to give him the original, pre-Thanos version and went through them line by line, he even watched the recordings of all the meetings the Avengers had after Tony signed them and despite the fact that Ross was in the Committee, despite the fact they might be quite limiting for them, he would sign. He would sign because it made sense. They were too powerful not to be under control, Avengers without Accords were like an army with the best equipment in the world with no one to hold them back from taking what they want. Bruce lived in army bases all his life, he saw parts of the world where those with such power were gods, untouchable by law, he knew what atrocities are those humans capable of.

He laughed, mirthlessly when he watched Natasha proclaim he would never have signed, when Steve proudly objected that governments are run by people with agendas, as if he is not. He can pretend all he wants that his only interest is doing good and protect people, Bruce can see through his mask of a righteous man. If that would be true, he would be the first to punish Wanda, even himself for the thing that happened in Lagos. But no, he was too used to having the power of decision making in his own hands, he wanted to keep it.

He read through all the news available about the situation in Lagos, he saw the recordings and interviews from those days. Wanda did not have control of her powers, he is the last one to judge someone for that, but people were killed, people who had nothing to do with their fight and if she was not to be held responsible then who? Steve? He was the leader of the team, he did all he could to be the one in charge, shouldn’t he be responsible then for releasing her into the field without proper training?

He is unable to control the Hulk, it is physically impossible, but she could be trained, there are other beings with magic, even here on Earth that could train her. But no, he trained her himself, without any understanding of how her power works and then released her on unsuspecting population of Lagos.

Steve luckily keeps away from them for now, too busy changing the rules he insisted on within the ‘new Accords’, too afraid of him, but Bruce has a suspicion that there will be trouble soon. Steve is stubborn, he is convinced that he can and should repair his relationship with Tony and if Bruce is not watchful he will try something again, especially now when his precious Wanda and Vision will return to the Compound. They sent a note, that they will return this evening.

Bruce doesn’t know Wanda, he avoided her since she came back. But she makes his skin crawl, he did not forget what happened in South Africa and who was to blame.

 

“Buuuuce” a slightly angry voice interrupts his dark musings. He looks down at the boy sitting in his lap and realizes he must have called him several times. Tony is pouting, clearly displeased.

They were watching the Jurassic Park together, Tony was feeling little bit down when Peter had to go home and Bruce tried to cheer him up. What little boy doesn’t like dinosaurs? But the movie apparently ended without him noticing. Bruce gently combs through his bangs, trying to erase the little frown “I’m sorry, what is it Tony?”

“Go to lab, make dinofau?”

“You want to go to lab to make a dinosaur?”

“Uh-huh”

How did he not expect this? Of course baby Tony would watch a movie about making dinosaurs and then immediately want to create one for himself! He is not quite sure if adult Tony wouldn’t react the same way to be honest. “But we can’t! Didn’t you see how bad it ended in the movie?”

“We bettew.”

“Noo, I’m not risking a velociraptor eating me!”

“But...!” Tony is now standing on his thighs, hands on hips, obviously ready to argue.

“You want to be eaten? I can arrange that!” he grabs his little arm, pretending to bite it “Hmmm, you taste sooo good. I will have another bite! Yum-yum-yum” he pretends to take another bite.

“Noooo, no eat Tony, pweaaas! Stoooop” the boy starts to giggle, trying to push him away.

“I will not! You’re the one who wanted to be eaten!” he gently shoves the child on the sofa next to him, raising his shirt and proceeds to plant several big raspberries on his tummy.

“Noooo, no, noooo. Pweaase Buuce, pweaase! No dinofau!”

Bruce quickly raises his head “No dinosaur? You promise?”

“Pwomise!”

Bruce swipes him into his arms, hugging him close. “Thank you Tony!”

“Luv you Bucie”

“Love you too sweetie. And you know what?”

“Wat?”

“We still can go to the lab, I know one cool experiment we can try.” He’s got the idea online, it is about simple mixing of chemicals with children to make them change color, release a smoke or make a bang. He knows Little Tony will love it.

The lab, not Bruce’s or Tony’s own of course, Bruce did not lose his mind yet, but one of the many labs for general use, ends looking like a bomb went off in it. It is covered in substances of different color and texture and one corner in particular is covered by oozy smelling purple slime, but it was all worth it. Worth it, because Bruce enjoyed himself immensely and he could see that Tony had too. The little boy got his own white lab coat, now completely covered by different colored patches from when his hand slipped and protection goggles because it is never too early to learn about lab safety. They just finished and he pushed them into his hair, making his bangs stand in every direction, making him look the perfect picture of a mini crazy scientist. Bruce snapped at least ten pictures and he knows that FRI is recording too.

 

Tony runs ahead, too full of energy to keep the slow pace of Bruce. He is hungry and Bruce is soo soo sloooow. Not like Petey. He and Pete were chasing each other all over the house, Tony always won of course, he is the fastestest!

The boy is flying down the last hallway before he hears the voice. “JAWIIIIS! Tony whished on staw!” he really did, Peter showed him how to and Tony asked the star to bring Mommy, Daddy, Jarvis and Stephen to him so they can all play together. He can barely contain his excitement and with the last spurt of strength rounds the corner at the full speed. He hits the man’s legs and looks up, up and up. He is very tall, the only problem, he is not Jarvis.

"Hello little one." he says and Tony is confused, that voice is the voice of Jarvis, but the man looks nothing like him. He is very very strange, with red leathery skin with a glowing yellow light on his forehead. Jarvis does not have a light in his head, he doesn't! Tears start filling the boy's wide eyes, his young mind stuck on the fact that this is not his friend, this is not who he wished for and the fact overwhelms him. He starts to back up, tears now streaming down the full cheeks.  
"Hey, hey Tony. Don't be afraid. We're not gonna hurt you" Steve tries to calm him down, the last thing he needs is for the others, especially Bruce, finding him with the crying boy.   
Speak for yourself, thinks Wanda meanly, she reaches her powers and slowly, carefully enters the child's mind. She is watching him closely for any sign he knows she is there, she can see him twitch a little, eyes glazing over just a bit, but it is nothing the others would notice. She can feel his thoughts, how he misses his parents and someone called Jarvis, so she uses the feeling, doing her best to accelerate it, to make him feel like they abandoned him because he is a bad, bad boy.   
His cries are music for her ears.   
Steve is in shock, the boy suddenly started to scream and trash in his hold, he was not doing anything to him, just gently grabbed his hand, making sure not to hold him too tightly. He tries to pull him closer, to hug him and try to calm him down as he does with Bucky when his panic overwhelms him. The boy continues to kick and trash, gouging deep gashes into his arm to free himself. Tony is beyond consolable, his mind full of pictures of his father scowling down at him, saying how stupid and useless he is, that he is not his son.   
Unbeknownst to the three of them, FRIDAY called the cavalry the moment Wanda started her magic. She could sense a strange energy flowing in the room, she did not know its source, but could see it concentrated itself around her boss. She sent a distress signal to all she trusted, the doors to the labs opened to release the bots and the Cloak, Thor and Bruce who were currently in the Compound heard her panicked voice from the walls, Rhodey, Pepper, Stephen and Peter got a phone call. Every single one of them dropped what they were doing and dashed to save the boy that means so much to them.

 

Stephen quickly asks Wong to bring Peter and  opens a portal into the Compound's common room. What he sees is utter chaos. The furniture is overturned left and right for the Hulk does not care about the damage he does to the room, his only thought smashing the enemy. Rogers is trapped underneath one of his paws, being punched over and over again, while Thor does his best to separate those two. Stephen sees it all, but he does not care, for the yelling is overshadowed by an anguished cry of a small child in pain.  
"TONY! Where are you Tony!" he starts frantically looking around, terrified out of his mind by the idea of little Tony hurt and trapped under some broken furniture.   
He can hear a faint call "here" but it was not in Tony's voice and he cannot hear where it came from. Vision stepped into the fight in the center and the fighters got awfully close. Only his quick reflexes kept the sorcerer from being crushed underneath Thor's wide frame. He engages his ring, creating a barrier between himself and them. "Tony! Come on bunny, where are you?!" He can still hear him crying, but his senses are overwhelmed, suddenly something hits the back of his head, he looks down to see a spatula lying on the ground. He quickly looks where it came from and can see a metallic robot arm waving above the kitchen island. He hurries there and finds Bucky Barnes covering trembling and still screaming Tony with his own body, while Maximoff lies motionlessly in the corner. Tony's bots circle them, ready to defend their creator and Stephen's cloak is hovering above them all trying the catch any debris that might fly their way. The relief of finding him relatively unharmed makes his knees buckle and he falls down on the floor.   
He can faintly hear another portal being opened and then Peter and Wong's yelling. He knows he can trust them to take care of the fight threatening to destroy the Compound and fully focuses on his little love. He squeezes himself between Butterfingers and U and reaches for the crying boy. "Hey bunny, it's okay, I'm here. No one's going to hurt you." Both he and Bucky see his head whip around as the fact that Stephen is there with him registers.   
Bucky releases him the moment he reaches his arms for the sorcerer and watches them hug each other, finally releasing little bit of the tension that grabbed him the moment he's got here.

The sight he saw when he got into the room will probably haunt him for a long time, he never felt so torn before. On one hand there was Steve, the love of his life, in fight with the Hulk. Every inborn and learned instinct in him yelled to go and help him, save him from certain death at hands of the monster. On the other hand, there was Tony, screaming and crying, held back by Wanda in the kitchen area, the entrance blocked by Vision and some machines.  
His life as the Winter Soldier taught him how to make difficult decisions, how to calculate the probability of success and even if it was one of the hardest things to do, he knew he stood no chance against the Hulk. He dived into the kitchen "Vision! Go help Steve, I will stay with Tony."   
The android did not hesitate and delved into the fight seamlessly while Bucky took his place at the entrance to the kitchen. He looked at the girl holding back the trashing boy. He was screaming and crying "Pwease Daddy no!" over and over again, it was horrible to watch. He stood frozen for a second when he noticed the look in Wanda's eyes. He expected sorrow and maybe pity, but what he saw was a glee, pure, unaltered glee. He did not have so many flashbacks after he returned from Wakanda, but some things you cannot forget. Not even the best doctors with the best technology can make you forget a look of a person who tortures someone and enjoys it. He saw it million times in eyes of his handlers and he saw its reflection in her eyes.

Memories resurfaced in his mind, memories of Steve explaining who and what Wanda was. How they found her and her brother in some Hydra facility, how Hydra gave them powers and he finally understood.

They were all deceived by her.

She is no innocent victim, no young girl trapped and used by the enemy. She was a snake, lying and waiting for her time to strike. To repay the man she blamed for her family's death.

She was waiting, but no more. Because he knows, he knows that the screams of the child were not natural, it was not panic born from the fight and loud noises, **she** was the one causing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve would never believe Stephen, but to Bucky he will.  
> Bucky now knows and he would never forgive anyone who tries mind control/torture, not after the whole Winter Soldier thing.  
> Wanda just got a new enemy.


	14. Chapter 14

Stephen holds Tony to his chest and carefully looks over the counter. The noises of breaking furniture ceased, but he would not risk the boy in case there is still danger. Luckily it seems that combined forces of Peter, Thor, Vision and Wong were able to break up the fight.

Bruce is back to his human self, gasping and bend over, but human, while Rogers, bloodied but surprisingly conscious is being helped to the sofa by Vision and Wilson. His face looks like a mess, swollen and some parts look like they were broken in, but the supersoldier serum clearly did its work in keeping him alive. No regular human would be able to survive beating from the Hulk.

Stephen feels it is safe to leave his cover, so he hoists Tony little bit higher, letting the boy snuggle into his neck and steps out of the kitchen. “What the hell happened here?”

Bruce immediately starts towards them, keen on making sure that the boy is okay, but Stephen takes a quick step back making him stop in his tracks. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Banner, but he just transformed back and the sorcerer can see how agitated he still is.

“Is Tony okay?” Bruce asks pleadingly. He must make sure that no harm came to the child. He is ashamed to admit that he lost control and he would never forgive himself if he’d hurt Tony in any way again.

“He is physically unharmed, but….” he looks down at the boy, they can all see how he clings to him and Stephen can feel how much his little form shakes. He becomes his cloak to wrap itself around the child and relaxes a little upon hearing Tony sigh softly in relief when the warm fabric wraps around him. The shaking decreases a little. “Dr. Banner, again, what the hell happened?”

Bruce looks at him, taking a minute to pull his thoughts back together. It’s always hard to get his brain thinking straight right after the transformation. He blinks a few times before offering his version of the story “Tony and I were in the lab, doing some experiments all afternoon. It was time for dinner, so we headed here. Tony ran upfront. I… I thought he would be safe, we were in the Compound and  **he** knew to stay away” he throws a dirty look in Steve’s direction. “At least I thought he knew.” a green tinge appears on the skin of his neck, just thinking of Steve and how he found him with crying Tony is making the Other guy raise his head again.

“BANNER!” Stephen’s voice, sharp as a whip, rips him out of the sea of anger still swimming inside his head. “If you can’t control yourself, I will remove you! I won’t let you endanger him again!” He can see the man trying to breath through the anger, to corral the beast back in.

“I could continue until Dr. Banner gets hold of himself.” a posh, british voice interrupts their staring contest. Vision leaves the Captain on the couch with Wilson slatting disinfectant onto his wounds and steps into the center. “The Captain, Wanda and I were in the kitchen when the boy ran in. He called me Jarvis” he admits with voice full of sorrow. “You see Jarvis, the real one was Tony’s caretaker when he was little. He later created an A.I. and named it after him and that A.I. is now part of me.” his voice is quiet, almost hypnotic, making them all focus on the explanation, even though most of them already guessed what happened next.

“He gave the A.I. Jarvis’ voice, my voice. So when he heard me talking, he probably thought the old Jarvis came for him. He was… disappointed when he saw me” the expression on his face is apologetic, as if it is his fault he can’t be the man the boy expected. “He startled upon seeing me and tears started to flow, but just a little. The tears were of disappointment, not of real distress or fear. The Captain tried to console him, to hug him and it worked a little bit, but then…” the inexplicable behaviour of the boy runs through his head. He could see the boy in Captain’s massive arms, sobbing a little, but quite calm, when he suddenly started to scream.

“It was like if a switch was turned on, he was calming down one minute and screaming the next. I don’t know what happened, but I swear the Captain had nothing to do with it.” he looks around the room, seeing the doubt in their eyes. It is then he realizes the general animosity towards the man he considers their leader. The Mind Stone allows him to read people’s feelings when he tries, but he does not use it. It feels like an intrusion upon a person’s privacy and he always though it would not be fair, but maybe, maybe he should use it. He would not be so caught off guard by their attitude as it is clear no one believes in the Captain’s innocence.

“Now you get why I transformed? I ran here after FRIDAY’s alert and he was holding him, restraining him even, while Tony cried, clearly hurt!”

“I bas thwying to whelp” the swollen, cracked lips make it hard for Steve to speak, but he has to try, he has to tell them that he did not hurt the boy. All he did was gently grab his wrist and pull him closer, just as Vision said it worked at first, but then he had a meltdown….

“Stop talking you idiot, you’re tearing the scabs” Sam admonishes and he is right, Steve can feel it. His quick healing already created scabs over most of the open wounds, he could feel their pulling when he tried to explain himself. It hurts, but he knows he must make them believe he did not harm the boy. He is afraid what will Bruce do if he won’t be able to convince him. He’s got lucky today, Thor got there after the first two punches and held most of Hulk’s anger away. He would be dead without him.

It is in that moment Bucky decides to interfere. He steps out of the kitchen, pulling Wanda’s unconscious body by her hair. Everyone is so shocked at the sight that no one tries to stop him from dragging her into the middle of the room and throwing her body on the carpet like a sack of potatoes.

“It was her” he growls at Vision who tries to get closer to her, to make sure his beloved is all right.

The android stops in his tracks, the artificial eyes going impossibly wide. “NO! It can’t be”

“Yes, it was” is the calm answer.

Everyone is frozen in shock, just staring at the man who usually steers clear of them. The witch laying on the floor starts to twitch, slowly waking up, but before anyone can react, the former Winter Soldier kneels beside her and administers one sharp, precise blow to her head, rendering her unconscious again.

The startled gasps from the team are overshadowed by pained “Buckhy!” coming from Steve.

“No Steve. I know you don’t want to believe me, but it’s true. I saw her.”

“What do you mean you saw her? What did she do to him?” Stephen needs to know more, he needs to know what exactly did she do to his boy.

“I…” uncertainty appears on his face. How can he explain it? “She was holding him and had this look in her eyes…. I know it was her who tortured him and she enjoyed it!” He can see the doubt on their faces and the pity in Steve’s eyes. 

“Buckh…”

“NO! Don’t you dare Steve! I know what you want to say, I'm not crazy, I'm not seeing things! I heard what you said about her, I know you see yourself in her, but that's bullshit! You let them do the experiment because you wanted to help, but she did it for revenge! She joined fucking Hydra for revenge!”

“You weren't there, you don’t know that.” Great, now the spy kids joined, they truly do know how to pick the best time to return. And of course Clint would be on her side, he latched onto the girl after his wife left him, taking her under his wings and treating her as his own. But Bucky won't be intimidated by the short archer, he knows what he saw, he was the only one to know and he must protect them from the little viper.

“And you were?” he raises his eyebrows challengingly. “All you know is what the bitch told you and you blindly trust her? No wonder SHIELD never discovered HYDRA in their mist if they had such bright agents!”

In a lightning quick move Clint pulls out his bow and opens it.

Bucky does not move a muscle, but his smirk is full of confidence. “Do you really think your little bow will help you against me? Really?” He will not pull out a weapon, he does not need one, he just slightly shifts into a fighting stance, ready to catch the arrow.

“ENOUGH!” Stephen had enough, he wants to know what happened and he wants to know it now. “I believe you” he starts, turning Bucky’s attention back to himself “but what did she do? How?”

“I don’t know how, but I know it was her.”

Stephen goes to open his mouth, he truly believes that the little witch is behind it, but he needs a proof.

“If I may Doctor” FRIDAY interrupts. “I sent the distress signal before Dr. Banner got here. I released it because the moment Boss started screaming, I could read wavelengths in the room. Wavelengths that match precisely the readings I recorded when the Red Witch used her powers before. Boss asked me to monitor her ever since the Ultron. I can show you the proof that she was using them.”

“You can prove that she used them on Tony?”

“No…”

“Aha! You see, this is just some plot to get rid of her while she is unconcious! I bet Stark is behind it!” Clint yells in triumph. “We all know he hates her!”

Only Tony, curled around his neck prevents Stephen from punching the annoying archer.

The room erupts in arguments, everyone has an opinion and everyone wants to voice it. Half of them defend Wanda, while the others clearly believe that what Bucky and FRIDAY said was the truth.

The only one who does not say a word is Vision.

He stands in the middle of the room, looking at the slumped form of his lover, going through everything he knows about her. He thinks of their trips, how happy they were, how much in love. But he can’t forget the times when they were not, when Wanda smashed him through the floor just because he did not side with her and the Captain, how anytime she mentioned her brother or parents anger was mixed within the sorrow in her eyes.

Was she truly capable of harming a child? He would say no, but in her eyes Tony was not a child, he was the man who took her family and even if he pretended that he did not feel her hate for him, he could sense it pouring in waves every time they were in the same room.

“I believe you” he whispers. No one hears him, they are too engrossed in their own arguments, so he tries louder “I believe you!”

And that finally gets their attention. Everyone stops, you could hear a pin drop in the room.

They stop because no one expected Vision to utter those words. Everybody is looking at him, standing there with his head bend and slumped shoulders.

“I believe you” he repeats for the third time. If it is to convince himself or them he does not now.

“I believe that she would be capable of doing it, to Tony.” he adds. “But I need a better proof before I can make a judgement.”

To that, they can all agree. As much as some of them want to see her head on a stake, they know they can’t do it without evidence.

“But how are you planning on getting one? I do not know a spell that would make her tell us the truth.”

“There is no need for a spell Doctor. I can get the truth out of her.”

“If you believe that she will tell you the truth just because you’re her lover….”

“It has nothing to do with a us being… lovers as you put it.” they can all see his pain. They know he loves her more than anything and his willingness to accept that maybe she is not entirely innocent makes their respect for him rise.

“Do not forget that the stone in my head is an Infinity Stone, the Mind Stone to be precise. I can make her do anything.” silence reigns the room again. The Avengers and their allies try to come to terms with what they’ve just heard. Vision is always such a nice, quiet guy that they almost forgot what kind of power he actually wields.

“I need you to swear, that you’ll not try to twist what you’ll find in her mind.” Stephen says. He knows from Tony that Vision is an honest guy, but people do the strangest things for love, just look at him standing up repeatedly to the Avengers for a guy who doesn’t even love him back.

“I swear you on my life” he holds Stephen’s gaze steadily for few seconds then slides down to Tony, barely visible under the Cloak. “You forgot who I am, who made me. I owe him my life.”

And that, more that the pledge on his life convinces Stephen.

“Okay, I trust you. Peter” he turns to the teenager “Take Tony and the bots and hide in the lab. He doesn’t need to see this.” The little boy barely stirs when he hands him over, half asleep from the strain of the day and Stephen’s comforting embrace.

 

“Sooo, should I tie her to a chair?” Bucky asks once the child is gone, lightly poking her side with the tip of his combat boot.

“Buckhy!”

“No Steve. You have no say here. I am very angry at you right now, so do not push me or I  **will** tie and gag you.” that shuts him up pretty quickly, but Bucky suspects that it’s more because he  said he is angry with him than because of the threat. He may be the Captain, but in private, Bucky is the one calling shots and they both know it.

“Thank you for that delightful insight into your sex life” Clint just cannot hold back the sass, he is still pissed at Bucky for accusing Wanda of doing whatever they think she did to Stark, but he is sure that soon they’ll find out she is innocent, so he allows himself to relax a bit and slide into his favorite chair. It was a tough mission and his back is aching like a bitch.

Vision ignores them all and picks Wanda from the floor, depositing her gently on the couch. He presses two fingers to her forehead, willing her to wake up.

She does so with a groan and looks around at the destroyed room and people glaring at her. “Viz? What happened?”

“Hulk had a fight with our Captain” he decides to answer only partially, he can see her eyes flying around the room, taking in the people gathered, all of them staring at her.

“I have a question for you” that brings her attention back to him. “Did you use your powers on the child?”

“My powers? What child Viz? I don’t understand” he eyes, her beautiful eyes he loves so much are looking at him pleadingly, but he can’t relent, he needs to stay strong. He opens his mind, letting the power of the Mind Stone flow through him. He can feel their emotions, their fear, apprehension, even fatigue and boredom (the last coming from Clint and Natasha), but forces them to focus on her only.

“Tony Stark in his de-aged form, he was here with you, the Captain and I when he suddenly started screaming and crying. You were accused of being the source of his pain.”

There is a flicker in her eyes and Vision can feel his insides turn to ice. He knows what that flicker means, he knows that the thing he dreaded most is true.

“De-aged Stark Viz? I don’t know what you are talking about! We just got here and talked to Steve when the Hulk showed up and started breaking things!” she tries to pretend that she has no idea what he is talking about.

“Answer me Wanda, please tell me the truth. Did you make him hurt?”

… 

“Wanda, did you?”

They can all see the change in her, the pleading innocence disappears to be replaced by arrogance. She knows she was caught, she knows best how Vision’s powers work and knows she can’t lie to him.

“So you chose him over me? You’d throw away all we have for that murderer?!”

“Wanda…” his voice breaks a little and there is something akin to regret in her eyes.

She leans forward, cupping his face in her palms “Don’t you see my love? He is a plague, a virus that needs to be exterminated. He took everything from me, my parents, then Pietro and now, now he is trying to take you. Is it so bad I wanted a little payback? Is it wrong that I wanted him to feel how I feel?”

“What did you do to him you bitch!” she is grabbed by her shoulder and smashed into the sofa.

The sorcerer could not hold his temper anymore.

She smirks right into his face, she can see his worry, his anger and she relishes in it.

“Only what he deserved. I showed him how it feels to grow up unloved. Without parents who would spoil you and buy you anything you want.”

“You stupid bitch! You know nothing of him!”

“Don’t I? I saw inside his mind, I saw the things that scare him, I saw you….”

“Shut up! Shut up or I’ll make you!” he actually raises his fist, but is stopped by Wong before any blow could land.

“Calm down, CALM!” his friend is trying to pull him away, just like Thor pulled Banner a minute ago, but Stephen won’t be moved. The bitch admitted to hurting his Tony and he must get to her, must punish her. He is so mad that he does not even think of using his magic, all he thinks about is smashing that smug expression off of her face and strangle her with his bare hands. He fights so hard that Barnes has to come to help Wong.

They fight while she laughs and laughs. Her laughter has a crazy tinge to it, making all in the room shiver. Even Steve and Clint can finally see how unhinged she is. The tension in the room grows and grows with every taunt she throws at Stephen, with every venom filled word passing her lips until Natasha can’t take it anymore. She approaches the sofa and with a move eerily similar to the one Bucky used, renders her unconscious.

 

Stephen slumps in their hold. He is exhausted, physically and emotionally and all he wants to do is to go to Tony, to hug him and make sure he is all right.

“So that was easy.”

Everyone looks disbelievingly at Bucky “What? She admitted the truth, I thought she would be harder to brake.”

“You forget she had almost no training on how to get through an interrogation.” Natasha is the only one who gets what he is trying to say, the others too busy taking in what happened.

“So, what are we gonna do with her now? Send her to Ross?”

“Hey!” Clint finally starts to listen what are the two former russian assassins discussing. “We can’t give her to Ross! The man is crazy, he will try to twist her and use her for his own purposes or torture her or I don’t know!”

Bucky looks at him, the sentence that maybe she deserves it hanging on the tip of his tongue, but he holds it back. No one deserves torture.

“Stephen should decide” Banner decided to return. “He is the Sorcerer Supreme and she is a witch after all.”

Stephen wants to point out that a witch and a sorcerer are two very different things, but he likes the idea of being the one who will decide her punishment. That is, he likes it until the moment he looks towards the sofa where she is lying to see Vision gently caressing her cheek while tears flow freely down his face. He still loves her, no matter what and even if Stephen could ask for her to be locked up, tortured or killed even, he can’t. He can’t because it would hurt Vision and if he admits it or nor, Tony still thinks of the android as one of his creations. If Vision suffers, Tony will too.

The sorcerer shakes off Wong’s hand still clutching his shoulder and approaches the kneeling man. He crouches next to him and makes him face it.

“I can’t let her go unpunished.” He can see the pain in Vision’s eyes, but he can also see him nod in agreement.

“Her powers are too strong and dangerous. She can’t be allowed to keep them. My punishment is the removal of her powers and… I think she needs help” he can see mouths begin to open, Steve, Clint and Vision and quickly continues “Help from trained professionals.”

“You want to put her in a loony bin?” Clint does not try to hide his anger.

Stephen does not acknowledge his outburst, he is focused solely on Vision, he needs to convince him, needs to make him see. “We will find the best facility there is, I know tons of doctors. She needs help, you could see it. She needs someone who will help her deal with the loss of her family and all the things she survived.”

He can see understanding in the android’s strange eyes. Thank god the man understands. Stephen hates her, so so much, but for him and eventually for Tony, he can be merciful.

“Thank you Doctor.” the smile is small, almost painful to watch, but it is a smile nonetheless.

“Yeah, thank you Doctor. The only problem is that we have no way of taking her powers.” Wong, always the party pooper.

“We have the magic suppressing shackles we use on rogue sorcerers.”

“That won’t work on her, her magic comes from an Infinity Stone.”

Stephen scowls, he really thought the shackles would work.

“If I may. Is now a bad time to say I know a way or two?”

They all turn towards the new voice. They see two strange men, one tall and black and the other lithe and pale, standing where a window used to be.


	15. Chapter 15

“Surprise!”

Three people move at the same time.

Thor bellows, his voice full of joy and life that was missing ever since he came back to Earth and runs towards the newcomers.

Clint engages his bow and releases an arrow.

And Bruce, Bruce throws himself into its path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was (only for a minute or so) thinking of posting only this part this week because I do like cliffhangers, like to read them, like to write them, but it would not be nice from me, so if you wait few more minutes, new (proper) chapter is on its way. It is typed in, I just want to proof read it.
> 
> Thanks for understanding


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go. Enjoy!

The arrow hits Bruce.

The impact makes a horrible meaty squelch and they all freeze for a second. Their minds unable to process what they witnessed.

They all freeze until a green energy flies out of Loki’s hands, for it is truly Loki, back from the dead, again.

The energy sidesteps everyone until it reaches the archer, wraps itself around his arms and legs and smashes him against the nearest wall, holding him there. But the god does not pay him any attention, he runs forward and crouches next to Bruce.

“You idiot! Why did you do that!” He frantically waves his hands, removing the bloodied clothes covering the small scientist’s shoulder, while studiously avoiding his eyes.

It is as if his actions broke an enchantment, everyone starts to move at the same time, all trying to get to them, to help Bruce, to protect him from the god. They crowd around, not knowing whether to fight Loki or wait what he will do.

Loki ignores them of course. He is studying the wound, looking for damaged bones or organs both with his magic and hands. He feels himself relax when he sees the arrow pierced just the muscle. The wound is painful, he can see Bruce’s neck straining in pain, but it is not life threatening, all he needs to do is to pull it out and and heal the damage.

He looks up, looking for his brother and Heimdall, only to realize that he is basically surrounded by the Avengers. He does not like it, not at all, it makes his skin crawl and all he wants to do is run, but he can’t. He can’t because Bruce is hurt and needs him.

“Step back you fools! Don’t you see he needs space?!” he barks. “Thor! Where are you, you oaf! I need to pull the arrow out, I think it went through! You need to hold him up!”

“What you need to do is step away from him!”

Oh the Captain. Loki almost forgot how annoying that idiot can be. From all the Avengers, he is the one he hates the most. Mr. Righteous, ugh. He throws him his best glare “Should I let you do it?” he mocks “I will gladly let you pull it out and then watch the beast tear you to pieces.” He does not miss the pure terror showing in the blue eyes, nor did he miss the wounds marring his face. He can’t be sure, but he somehow knows that Hulk is responsible for them. Shame that they were late, he would really like to watch the beast pound that stupid face.

“Why should we trust you?” Ah, the sorcerer, another one on his list of least favorite mortals. Loki did not forget his portal trick and he had plenty of time to come up with several brilliant ideas how to repay him his hospitality. He opens his mouth, ready for a scanthing remark, when a pain filled voice interrupts him.

“It’s okay. I trust him.” Bruce squeezes out through clenched teeth.

They are all taken aback by his words, but none of them more than Loki himself. He looks down, finally having the courage to look into his eyes. He can see a lot of pain, some anger and disappointment, but there is also something else… a fondness. It almost makes him blush.

He quickly looks away to get rid of that ridiculous feeling and finally locates his stupid brother. Thor is standing towards his left, grinning at him like the idiot he is, one heavy arm draped across Heimdall’s shoulders.

“Do not stand there brother! Help me!” That gets him moving, both Heimdall and he push the Avengers away and kneel beside him.

“I will probably need to break the head and pull it out. Do not allow him to move, he could tear something and damage his shoulder.”

They both nod in understanding and grab Bruce under the shoulders, gently helping him to sit up. Loki tries to be as gentle as possible, even making his fingers colder to take away the pain, but it still hurts. The arrow head did not get entirely out and he needs to dig deeper into the wound to pull it out more. They all hold their breath, ready to scatter at any sign of the Other guy, but Bruce is able to keep him down, the only signs of him the green veins pulsing on his throat and green flickering in his eyes.

It does not take long for Loki to rip away the head, his magic making sure that no splinters will chip off and he crouches before Bruce. He quickly looks up at the other Asgardians, making sure their hold is steady and pulls. With another squelching sound, the arrow is out.

It takes a second for Bruce’s brain to register the pain. But when it hits… he loses his focus and his hold on the Hulk. “Oh-oh” is the only warning he gives them before the Other guy takes over and grabs the god of mischief by his legs.

Loki knew what was coming, it would be stupid to think they can get through it without the Hulk coming out, but he still isn’t able to hold back the yelp and all consuming fear when he feels those large fingers squeeze his calves.

The behemoth jumps off of the floor, scattering Thor and Heimdall like ragdolls and prepares to smash whoever hurt them. Only when he raises his hand, he actually sees who he captured.

What happens next shocks them all, instead of smashing him into the ground as he did in the Tower all those years ago, Hulk smiles. It is not the smile they could sometimes see during the battle, the smile that promises death to all their enemies and makes you think of a world of pain. No, this one is different. It is almost… fond?

“Puny god?” the big guy rumbles and Loki almost rolls his eyes. Almost, because he really scared him and because he still hangs upside down. He cannot hold back the eye roll when the beast moves him and cradles him against his massive chest as if he is some baby. The Avengers watch in awe as one green finger pokes him in the chest “Puny god alive?” and all the god does is swat it away like an annoying fly.

“Yes, I am alive. Now put me down so I can heal your shoulder!” he says tersely.

The Hulk frowns, as if the pain did not register before the god mentioned his injury, but he does not release him. Loki clucks impatiently, moving down and perching himself onto the wide palm. His palms start to glow green and he moves them closer to the wound, careful not to actually touch it. The hole in his shoulder is gone in less than five seconds as if it never existed.

Hulk smiles again and gently pets the dark locks with a tip of his finger. “No hurt anymore.”

 

Stephen watches the proceedings in apathy. He is emotionally drained and weary down to his bones. He needs a nap, preferably with Tony curled in his arms, but he can’t, he can’t because the witch is still alive and kicking.

He is not heartless, he gives Thor the time to extricate his brother from Hulk’s clutches and to hug him, but the moment Loki’s face starts to turn blue in his tight grip, he interrupts them. He takes a step closer, but decides to stop at a healthy distance.

“Ahem, ahem.” Nothing, they continue to ignore him, so he tries again little louder. “Ahem, ahem. Gentlemen!”

They all turn to him, including the Hulk which causes shivers to run down his spine, but he can’t relent. This is about Tony and his safety, every minute they ignore her, the witch can wake up and attack. “I apologize for interrupting your reunion, but we have a problem we need to deal with.” He faces Loki “You said you know how to take her powers, now would be good time to explain how.”

“I heard you say that her powers come from an Infinity Stone, is that correct?”

“Yes, from the Mind Stone. HYDRA had your Scepter”

“It was not  **my** Scepter” Loki growls. There is something akin to hurt in his eyes, they can all see it. “It was given to me by Thanos.” he spits the name like a curse.

Stephen wisely decides to let that topic lie and continues “They had  **the** Scepter” he watches him for any further sign of anger, but sees none “we do not have all the details, but they somehow used it to turn normal humans into Superbeings. Her brother gained super-speed, while she got… magic? Mind control? I don’t think that anyone knows the full extend of her powers.”

“Hmmm” Loki moves towards the limp figure resting on the couch, surprised that no one even tries to stop him.

He extends a tendril of his seidr, ready to pull back at the first sign of trouble and uses it to map her mind. He is bent over her prone form for several minutes, while everybody’s watching, even Clint, still stuck to the wall.

“Okay” he declares as he straightens, making them jump a little with his abruptness. “To start, I will explain how the Mind Stone works. It can be used in several different ways: mind control” he looks at Barton from the corner of his eye “reading of minds, or emotions to be precise and their manipulation. There is one more aspect that does not come to play as often as most of the species in the Universe are quite advanced.” his look tells them that he does not count humans in his statement “but you Midgardians are… underdeveloped in this area.” He ignores the glares he receives for that “Evolutionary, your brain is blocked, because your bodies are not able to process all that it is capable off. I guess this one was lucky when they removed that block. I think most mortal bodies would wither.”

“This is some blockbuster crap!” Clint can’t hold it back “Soon you will be telling us that humans use only 10% of our brain capacity! Yeah, I saw that movie, it was shit!”

Loki glares at the interruption and with a wave of hand, one strand of the green energy restraining him splits from the others and covers his mouth.

“It is true” Bruce finally convinced the Hulk to let him out and play too. They all turn to him “I mean, yes, the movie was stupid” he rolls his eyes “but I mean, that we do not use the brain to its full capacity. There are serious studies confirming it, I myself dabbled in that area for a while.”

“Thank you Bruce” Loki nods primly “as I was saying, the Mind Stone in the Scepter was able to remove that barrier, that doesn’t mean that it cannot be restored.” He turns to Vision “You have the Stone and therefore the ability to do it.”

“And what would happen to her after?”

“If you do it right, she should go back to normal Midgardian, well as normal as she was before allowing someone to experiment on her.”

“And if I mess up?”

The shifty look in his eyes tells it all “Honestly, I don’t know.”

Vision’s shoulders slump, he looks so defeated. It is not fair to him, he never asked for the Stone, he never asked for its power, but it was Wanda and he loves her. He must try, for her.

“There truly isn’t any other way?” Bruce doesn’t like the defeated slump of the android’s shoulders. He likes Vision, he is kind, polite and he admits that down there he always thought it was little bit his own influence during his creation that made him so nice.

“The only way I’m sure it should work. But….”

“But?” Viz’ head flies up, eyes full of hope.

“During the… my time in New York, I tried to take control over Iron Man, but it didn’t work. He somehow resisted the control, but I do not know how.”

“I saw the feed” Natasha finally decides to contribute “you tapped the Scepter against the reactor in his chest. We always thought that that was the reason why it didn’t work, because you did not touch him.”

“I… I don’t know, maybe. But maybe….”

“What you’re saying is that something in Tony’s reactor might work as some sort of nullifier on the Stone effects.” Bruce sums it up.

“I really do not think so. I truly believe that the only way is to use the Stone again, but you asked for another option and this is the only thing that comes to my mind.”

“So what should we do?” Bruce turns back to Vision. It is his decision, he will have to do it and he will have to do it to his girlfriend, they need him on their side here.

“Would it be possible to gain some time? We could have a look on both options, I would have time to train….”

“You want to do experiments on hamsters?” Wilson pipes up, mildly disgusted.

“I was thinking something bigger, something with brain more resembling human.”

“Puppies?!” now his voice sounds positively horrified.

“Meh, better than humans!” Bucky cannot hold himself back from poking him a little. Their relationship got little better, but he still disliked the former soldier and how close he was to his Steve.

Stephen ignores them all “Wong, do we have a spell that would keep her temporarily restrained?”

“There is one that would keep her asleep, but it can’t be here. We would have to take her to Kamar-Taj and have some of the masters locking it and even that would give us 7, maybe 10 days, as we will need them sooner or later.”

Stephen nods. He is unwilling to take the bitch to the temple, but it would be safer if she would be there. They can always lock her in the Mirror dimension, so even if she does wake up, she won’t be able to run or hurt anyone.

“At least something. Vision, you need to work with the Stone, I don’t care if you use hamsters, puppies or freaking cows, we can’t let her keep the powers, just… please do not let any mutant cows run free?”

That makes them all laugh, alleviating the mood a little..

“And Bruce? Maybe you could reach out to Princess Shuri and you could have a look at the reactor?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thank you. We will take her now, so we have still some time to brief everyone in the temple. I will be back in the evening.” Without saying more, he levitates the bitch, while Wong opens a portal and they both disappear.

 

Thor grabs both his brother and best friend and drags them to the door. “Come! You must tell me what blessing brought you back to us!”

Bruce just walks behind them with a broad smile.

“Hey!” Wilson calls “What about Barton?”

Only Bruce turns around “Why? I think he looks like particularly interesting if somewhat ugly piece of art.” he smirks and without a backward glance leaves the room.

It takes additional 20 minutes till the bonds suddenly disappear and Clint crashes to the floor.


	17. Chapter 17

Peter is in Tony’s workshop trying to wrap his head around what happened, while the boy sleeps on the couch, guarded jealously by his bots and Stephen’s cloak.

He fought HULK! THE FREAKING HULK! He can’t wait till he tells Ned and…. His thoughts are interrupted by a soft whimper coming from the couch. He quickly walks over and sees Little Tony squirm under the heavy fabric of the Cloak, releasing another distressed whimper.

He pets gently the long-ish hair on the top of the child’s head “Hey, it’s okay Tony, you’re safe.” he tries to sooth him, but the whimpers continue, getting progressively worse. He tries to calm him again, but without an effect. The bots start to beep anxiously, so he decides to wake him up. Better be awake and scared than locked in a nightmare.

He grabs his shoulder and shakes him “Hey Tony, wake up, wake up.”

Instead of opening his eyes, the boy lets out a cry and pleads “No Daddy, pwease no. Tony is sowy.”

Peter is getting really concerned, he starts to shake him harder, while turning his head to the ceiling “FRI! How is it going up there? Can Stephen or Bruce come?”

The boy continues to softly cry and beg his father, repeating that he is sorry over and over again.

“I'm afraid that neither of them can come right now, but Miss Potts together with Masters Rhodes and Happy just passed the front gate, I can make them come here.”

“Yes, please do that. And FRI?”

“Yes?”

“Please tell them to hurry.”

 

Happy is pushing the speed limit, hoping he won’t meet any cops, while Pepper and Rhodey anxiously sit in the back. They received a distress call from FRIDAY, urging them to come to the Compound as soon as possible. Luckily they were on their way already, so it won't take them more than 30 minutes. 

The A.I. is giving them updates about what is happening and they are all ready to storm in and kill the bitch with their bare hands.

They are almost at the gate when she tells them to head to the lab instead. Why those idiots left Tony with just Peter? The earth mightiest heroes my ass! What a bunch of idiots! thinks Happy  meanly as he clutches the steering wheel until his fingers are white from the pressure.

They are running out of the car the moment it stops.

 

Peter finally manages to wake him up, but the boy still cries, locked inside of a memory or a vision that the bitch implanted.

It is good that the door of the lab open automatically the moment they enter the hallway, otherwise they would be ripped off of its hinges by Rhodey. The black man was berating himself all the way to the Compound for leaving. He should have stay with Tones and protect him, not running around with Pepper.

He drops to the ground next to Peter and reaches out for his friend.

“He had a nightmare and I barely got him to wake up, but he is crying ever since! I don’t know what to do Mr. Rhodes!” The teenager explains, his voice breaking with barely restrained crying.

“You did good Peter, shh. Everything is going to be okay.” Pepper kneels next to him, pulling him into a gentle hug. He goes willingly, happy that there is finally someone who is able to help him. He considers himself an adult for quite some time now, but sitting there with an inconsolable child made him feel so helpless and young. All he wanted was to find an adult who would come and tell him what to do, but FRI said it is not safe to go upstairs.

Rhodey is hugging Tony to his chest, gently rocking back and forth like his Momma used to do.

Tony is still crying and they all can clearly hear his murmuring of “Sowy Daddy, sowy”

Their hearts break a little, they all know how difficult Tony's relationship with his father was. Tony's father was a difficult man, man too obsessed with his inventions and obsessive search for the Captain, man with not enough patience for a boy who wanted nothing more than to be loved by him.

“Hey sweetie, everything is going to be alright. Please look at me.” Rhodey begs gently, running his hand over Tony’s hair and still shaking back. The boy does not comply, but at least he reacts by shaking his head no. “Come on Tony, can you at least tell me what happened? Why are you saying you’re sorry?”

“Daddy mad. He luvs Tony no more.”

“Why would you say that? I know Daddy loves you very much.”

“No, he not! He said so! He said...” the boy is overcomed by another round of crying. He gasps for a breath, unable to push the sobs down and take a breath. Rhodey looks helplessly to Pepper, he doesn’t know what to do, how to calm the boy. He is a soldier, give him an enemy, a clear target and will know exactly what to do to annihilate the threat, but in a face of a crying child….

“How about we blow your nose Tony? I’m sure you’ll feel better like that.” Pepper pulls a handkerchief from somewhere and hands it to the former soldier.

Rhodey gently pulls the boy’s arms from where they are clutching at his collar and gently pats the wet cheeks. He then holds the kerchief to his nose and makes him blow as hard as he can.

The sobs die a little, Tony distracted by the task at hand, so Rhodey again prompts “Why would be Daddy mad?”

“Tony was bad. Daddy scream at Tony and… and… he says he luvs me no mowe!” the boy is not sobbing anymore, but they would much more prefered if he did. Instead his little shoulders drop in defeat and he sags in Rhodey’s hold.

He is oblivious to the tension running now through the room, the adults and Peter looking at each other, horrified. How can someone do that to a child? What kind of monster the girl really is? For there is no doubt in their minds that this is not a real memory.

Despite all of his mistakes and all of their disagreements, Howard never said that. They would know if he did. It took years for Tony to open up, to get him to believe they won’t abandon him or they are not after his money, but open he did. They talked about many things from their childhoods, of the scars that remained in each of them. They allowed themselves to be vulnerable in front of him and he repaid them in kind. So if there would be a memory of Howard saying he doesn’t love his boy, they would know.

But how do you explain that to a small child? For Tony, in this state, it was as real as the day when they’ve been in the park together.

In the end it is Happy who gets the idea. He purposely held back, not wanting to overwhelm the boy, but now steps forward. “Tony?”

He waits till Rhodey turns the boy around, leans his back against his chest and wraps his arms around him, trying to offer as much physical comfort as possible. The boy now looks up, big, sad eyes boring into him.

Happy comes closer, squatting in front of them, trying to get himself to the same eye level as the child. “Tony can you tell us when did it happen?”

The child blinks in confusion, little face scrunching in concentration as he tentatively says “Today?”

“But Tony, your Daddy is not here. He is away, remember? He and Mommy had to leave and left you here with us for few days.”

“Daddy away? But….”

“Tony, Peter said that you were asleep, you were dreaming squirt. It was not real.”

“No?” they can all clearly hear the small bit of hope creeping into his voice. He looks at Happy beseechingly, desperate for a reassurance.

Happy is more than happy to provide it “Yes, it was only a bad dream. Daddy loves you very much, he said so.” The man is not sure if those words ever left Howard’s mouth, but he is not above a little white lie to make him feel better.

And it clearly worked, the boy sits up and throws himself into the bodyguards arms, making him lose balance and fall down. Happy does not care, he clutches the boy tightly, delighted in his joyful giggles.

He even promises that they may call Mommy and Daddy later on, unable to say no to Tony after the ordeal he went through. He sees the others frown at that, but come on, they live in 21. century, surely they will be able to use the modern technology to fake a call or video or something. The boy needs it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How come Loki and Heimdall are back?

Bruce’s brain is buzzing. His brilliant mind, one of the greatest in history, is unable to comprehend a simple fact that he is back. The neurons fry themselves trying to grasp the impossible.

He watches them both, Loki and Heimdall, looking for wounds that covered them when he last saw them, trying to find a proof that this IS a reality, that this is truly them and not impostors trying to fool them. Well the logical part of his brain is looking for a proof, the other one does not question it. The other side just knows.

Thor dragged Heimdall and Loki into his rooms, making all three of them sit together on a big couch. He did not take his arms from around their necks yet. The physical contact is a reassurance to him, a proof that for once in his life, his prayers were heard.

Bruce perches himself on a chair across from them and just observes. It makes his insides feel warm to see Thor so happy. He tried to hide it, but Bruce knows that after they reversed the Snap and Loki and the others did not come back, something broke and died inside his soul. His laughs were not so loud and boisterous as before, he was more solitary and the stories of conquests he so loved to tell, disappeared.

Bruce caught him many times praying to the Allfathers of old, all but begging them to return his friends back to him, even caught him crying few times….

The darkness is now gone from the god’s eyes, but Bruce can still feel its shadow in the too cheerful voice, in the way how he clutches them close. He feels like that too.

This is too good to believe, an improbable happy ending that he is afraid to examine too closely from a fear it will fall apart like a house of cards.

 

Neither Thor nor Bruce try to pry for answers, content in their blind happiness. 

Bruce just watches fondly, noticing the smiles full of pride lightning up the faces of Thor’s brother and best friend. Noticing the changes in them, especially Loki.

The god he knew before would not be content to just sit there and listen about how his brother saved the universe, he would be sneering and snarling, trying to release Thor’s hold.

But he just sits there, smiling faintly as Thor proudly presents his new ax and tells them the story how he got it, crazy space adventure with a talking rabbit and a tree. Bruce is surprised by how in stride they took it, he saw both the tree person and the ‘rabbit’, but still has problems to convince his brain that they were not a hallucination.

Then he tells them how they fought Thanos, traveled through space and time to gather the Stones and reversed the Snap. “And then, then I put on the gauntlet and snapped my fingers just how he did and suddenly people started to pop around us!” his smile could outshine the Sun and Bruce knows that it is reflected on his own face as well. Defeating Thanos, returning all those people to their loved ones, it was… it  **still** is a feeling impossible to explain. The world, even the whole universe was a dark, bleak space after the Snap. People were not living, just surviving, the amount of suicide attempts grew exponentially and no one knew how to move on, how to survive the biggest tragedy the Earth, even the Universe survived. 

“A mighty deed indeed, brother. Worthy of the King of Asgard.” Thor is so surprised by those unexpected words, unused to a praise from Loki. The emotions overwhelm him and he finally releases his hold of them, only to snatch the younger prince in a bear hug, almost burying him under his massive form. “I missed you so much Loki.” they can all hear his voice break a little.

“Uff! Okay, okay you big oaf! Release me right this instant. I can’t breath!” Loki says in mock angry voice, uselessly trying to shove Thor off of himself.

Thor releases him with a sheepish smile, but goes serious almost instantly “Tell me brother, what happened to you? I saw you die….”

Loki looks away, unable to face the pain in his brother’s eye. He looks towards Heimdall as if looking for a reassurance. “I died brother.” his eyes flicker up to Thor and away again. “I died and I entered the land of the dead, but it was different that it was before, less dark, less….”

“What do you mean before brother?”

Loki looks up with apprehension, he has no idea how Thor will react to what he’s going to say “Those two times, with the Bifrost and the Dark elves, I did not fake my death.” he can see Thor’s brow burrowing in confusion, the bigger man opening his mouth, but he stops him before he can ask. Lies his hand on top of his bigger one “I did not realize it at the time, but I was dead. Please let me finish!” he adds urgently when he sees him trying to interrupt again “I was dead, but I did not know it back then. I thought it was only dreams, just dreams conjured by my mind as I was unconscious, but now…” he bends his head, hiding behind his too long hair “I was back, I was back to that dark place, I saw the same gate, made of black rocks and skulls, but it was different.” he pauses, trying to remember those feverish visions, or what he though were feverish visions and compare them with what he knows to be the reality now “The place was dark, heavens covered with black clouds and so so cold, even I, Loki the Frost giant, was freezing cold and there was screaming, confused and angry, but no one who would scream, the sound was everywhere, filling the air and making my skin itch. It was as if it was coming from the ground itself, the place itself shrieking in pure agony. There was something so so wrong with that place….” His voice is low, almost hypnotic, filled with awe and utter terror. They can see his hands shaking as he stares at them blindly, as if he can’t see them at all, as if all he can do is to relive the horrors he’s seen.

Thor grabs one of the shaking, pale hands gently, giving him the courage to continue. The place, so real just a second ago dims in the reality of Thor’s big, warm paw in his and so he continues.

“When I saw the gate now, there was no screaming, no stifling pressure pounding in my skull, instead everything was... gleaming in a pale, silvery light. There were no stars, no Sun, no Moon, but the skies were dark blue as they are in the middle of the night and the light was everywhere, shining gently without a source. It was as if the air itself was filled with it, molekule after molekule blazing bright. 

I stood before that gate for a long time, I don’t know how long, it could be minutes, days or years, but I saw no one, nothing….” he turns his hand in Thor’s, intertwining their fingers to gather the warmth of Thor, the warmth that is the proof that he is back, that this is not the place anymore, that his brother is alive and well.

“I could not stand it, I am in my nature a chaos, a change, I could not stand the stifling stillness any longer. I tried to use my seidr, tried to cast all the spells I know, but I was… powerless. For the first time in my life, my magic deserted me.” he truly starts to shake now, his eyes are still fixed on their joined hands, but his whole frame is vibrating. Bruce sees Thor look around helplessly, looking for something, anything he can use to calm his brother, for these are not tremors of cold or fatigue, it is a shock, a shock that happens when the organism cannot hold back the strain anymore. All the scientist could find was Thor’s red cape and he brings it to the god, who promptly wraps it around Loki’s thin shoulders.

The shaking subsides a bit, the smell of his brother and the familiar piece of clothing enough to stave away the tremors for a while, enabling him to continue “I… I went through the gate. There was a path leading away from it, so I followed. The ground around me changed and changed, I was walking through a meadow with silver bell shaped flowers, then on the top of a cliff over roaring green ocean and in a minute I was underneath a canopy of the tallest evergreens you’ve ever seen. Not only the surroundings changed, also the feeling, I was… at peace.” His voice is quiet, almost hypnotizing. They all, even Heimdall whose experience was quite similar, sit forward and bend over, trying to be as close to him as possible.

“The forest, it reminded me the one at Vanaheim, the one mother… Frigga used to take us when we were young.”

“I remember brother.” Thor confirms in equally quiet voice, for once not speaking so loudly. The fondness and love he feels for the younger man clear as a day to anyone who knows him.

“I was still in the forest, when I came across a crossroad, there were three paths. Did you see them too?” Loki looks up, eyes searching for Heimdall.

The man smiles, Sphinx like, but answers “No my Prince, no choice for me, only one straight road through the Asgard.”

Loki hums, surprised by the answer, especially the location the other god mentioned, but decides to return to his story “As I said, there were three paths. At first, they all seemed to be the same, but as I stood there, undecided, I started to feel… something. From the left path came warmth, like the first Spring sunlight, warming me on the outside, but with deep winter cold underneath, it made me uneasy. The right path… a cold wind was streaming from there, it reminded me of… Jotunheim” his expression furrows for a second. They all know that the land of the frost giants is far from his favorite “but the middle one… it was like a mixture of them and something else, something calming, something that pulled me forward. So I chose the middle path, I walked and walked, when suddenly in a blink of an eye, the world around changed. I was no longer in a forest, but in a grand hall, not dissimilar to Father’s hall on Asgard, but less golden. There were shadows and whispers in the corners, dark parts that I did not want to look at, for my gaze was drawn forward. There was a throne, made from obsidian, back and gleaming and upon that throne was her… our sister… Hella.”  

“What!?” Thor jumps up and in a nervous gesture calls Stormbreaker to himself. The room fills with static electricity, responding to his agitation and small cracks of lightning start to dance around his knuckles.

“Peace brother” Loki stands as well, trying to calm him and pull him back towards the couch.

Thor spins towards him and grabs the extended arm “Did she hurt you brother? What did she do to you!” they can all hear a faint echo of a thunder.

“No, I am all right. Do not fret. She was very different from the Hella we’ve met.” He turns towards Bruce now, for the first time since they entered the room. “When Thor and I first met her, she was mad. I could see it, I could taste it in the air as it crackled around her. Bent upon destroying Asgard, bent on revenge.” He looks back to his brother.

“That is not the Hella I found there. She was different, softer. No longer desperate and half crazy.” he gulps and mentally squares for what is to come, for his brother’s reaction to his revelation.

“We talked, a lot. She is the Queen of the dead now. It was her who brought me back, who brought us both back.”

Thor looks disbelievingly at Loki and then at Heimdall, who nods in confirmation. And then starts to rage and rant, how they should never believe her, how dangerous and crazy and cruel she is. And do they not remember that it was she who destroyed their beloved home?

The two Asgardians just sit there, letting him rant. They both know him like the back of their hand and they know it would be lost effort if they’d try to interfere. He needs to went, to get it ‘out of his system’ as the Midgardians say and only after that he will be able to hear them out, to see reason.

Bruce can feel the Other guy stir, whether in reaction to Thor’s anger, or because of the possibility of possible upcoming battle with the Thunderer, Bruce does not know. He could feel his phone vibrate in the pocket of his sweater several time during Loki’s explanation, but he was too enraptured by the story to interrupt. But now feels like a good time to check it out, especially after he feels another round of vibrations.

It turns out, the vibrating are messages from FRIDAY, who he tasked in providing him regular status updates on what is going on, especially with Tony.

He feels a pang of guilt when he sees the messages about Tony’s meltdown, but is happy to see that Peter had help. What concerns him is that Dr. Strange is back and is looking for him.

He looks up, but sees that Thor still rages and rants about how Loki should have never trust her and what if she suddenly takes him back or if she has another evil plan and wants to use them.

The concern is not unfounded, Bruce must admit that, even if he never actually saw her, all he has is Thor’s and Valkyrie’s words and green tinged memories of the Other guy. She was unhinged and very very dangerous. Would she be cruel enough, to let Loki and Heimdall return only to take them back later only to cause even more pain to her brother?

Bruce looks at the two, both again seated at the couch. They do not look concerned, just fondly amused at Thor’s continuous ranting.

Maybe they had some kind of a deal with her? Maybe she really changed? From what Bruce knows, she was locked by Odin for a very long time, so long that Thor doesn’t even remember having a sister. Surely release from such a long confinement can make a person unhinged and aggressive.

His pocket vibrates again and he looks at the new message. ‘DR. STRANGE IS HEADED TO POINT BREAK’S ROOM” Oh shit, he can’t come now! Who knows what would Thor do if someone threatened his brother right now, or what would Loki do for that matter.

“I must go!” he blurts and scrambles up. His wild flailing limbs interrupts for a second Thor’s rant. They all look at him in surprise, as if they all forgot that he was even there with them, which is more than little insulting. He frowns at the them, but soon remembers what was the emergency and sprints towards the door as slowly and inconspicuously as possible.

 

Stephen is still so fucking tired! He needs to sleep, eat and pee, not necessarily in that order and he needs it now! Or he  **will** turn someone into a frog or something… unnatural!

His mind is so sluggish from the lack of sleep and low blood sugar that it took him hours, hours!, to connect the dots. He would be so embarrassed if he had the energy. 

He sprinted back as soon as it clicked. When he checked Tony’s room after he was deaged, they found remnants of a green tinged seidr and who just revealed that he is alive? Someone who wields green energy? Hmm?

He will take that bastard, force him to turn Tony back and then shove him into the darkest dimension he’ll be able to find at such a short notice.

FRIDAY told him that the prick is still in Thor’s rooms, so that is where he’s headed when Banner stops him.

“You can’t go there.”

“You don’t want to stand in my way, Doctor. I need to get Loki.”

“Really?” Bruce asks mockingly “and what do you think you could do to me, before I would smack you like a fly?”

Stephen sighs heavily “Come on Bruce! Don’t play stupid now! We both know it was Loki who deaged Tony! I will just get him, make him turn him back and”

“And what?!” Bruce interrupts sharply. There is a subtle green gleam in his eye. “Lock him? Kill him?” he continues before the sorcerer comes up with an answer. “Tony is my friend. One of the best ones I have, never question that, but Thor is my friend as well and the fact is, that we don’t know for sure whether it was Loki or not. What we know however is that Thor finally got his brother back. Finally after almost two years of mourning him and never really moving on. He is happy, can’t you give him that? At least for now?”

“And what about Tony? Doesn’t he deserve happiness too?”

“When did I say that? Do not put words in my mouth! Tony is… healthy, happy and in no imminent danger. According to FRIDAY, he is currently in the workshop coloring with Peter, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. He can surely survive one more day as a child. Even though it  **is** time for dinner soon, so you should go to kitchen and try to prepare something edible. Do not bother cooking for Thor, Loki, Heimdall and I, we will order pizza. Now if you’ll excuse me.” and he turns around without a backward glance. Where does the sudden confidence come from?

Stephen just stares dumbly after him, his exhausted brain need a minute to comprehend, that he was basically told to ‘fuck off’ and by Bruce Banner by all people. It is the lack of mental energy that pushes him towards the kitchen in the end, it is not Bruce’s command. He is not afraid of the guy, no, not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is one more pairing hidden in this fic, crucial for the plot. I kept it hidden from the tags for spoilers reasons. Did you spot it?
> 
> Also shout out to people who spotted the subtle LOTR reference in this chapter ;)


	19. Chapter 19

Stephen is mad at Bruce. Yeah, yeah Thor just got his weasley little brother back, yeah he thought him dead again. Buh-hu! Honestly when will he learn? The prick faked his death twice, no, now it is three times and Thor still acts like Loki dying is the worst thing in the history of the Universe.

Stephen can imagine billion, no, trillion things that would be much, much worse. Like Dormamu, or Thanos, or never seeing Tony again, Tony hating him, Tony…. Well, you get the point.

He promises himself to drag the trickster to Tony first chance he gets in the morning, even if he has to portal both Bruce and Thor to Antarctica to achieve that, even if he has to pull him by those god-awful unwashed, slimy bristles he calls hair. Eww, his stomach rolls just from the idea of touching them.

Stephen is mad, he huffs and puffs, constructing cutting arguments and imagining the fight with Loki he will have tomorrow. He thinks about arguing with the god surprisingly often since they’ve first met, what he would say, how would Loki react… the bastard is sharp as a whip and not afraid to poke a sore spot. Stephen kind of likes that, he just needs to be careful, god forbid someone would actually find out he finds the sarcastic asshole funny.

Stephen’s dark mood lifts a little just by thinking of the pranks he can play on him. He can’t use the portals, Loki will be ready for that, but he can figure something out, maybe something with his hair, dye it pink, or really just wash it, he is sure the trickster would keel right over if he saw his hair clean for once. How can he stand it? Like, it must itch like crazy! Stephen shudders.

 

He is almost at the Common room when he hears the voices, Rogers, Barton, Romanoff…. Ugh! Why can’t they just fuck off?! How is he supposed to make dinner with them breathing down his neck?

He contemplates going there and giving them his best glare for a minute, but he decides against it. He is tired and the traitors are probably too dense to understand he should not be messed with right now. He quickly creates a portal to McDonalds, maybe not the healthiest dinner, but it is what his brain needs.

He stuffs half of a cheeseburger into his mouth while he opens a portal, disregarding the awed expressions surrounding him to balance three bags full of food. Bruce said Tony is with Peter, Rhodey and Happy, so he took enough burgers and fries to feed an army. He even ordered a salad for that cow, he can’t really imagine the perfect Miss Potts staining herself with a greasy burger.

 

He stops in front of the workshop’s glass paneled door for a second, just to watch them, to watch him. Warm feeling spreads inside his chest upon the sight of Tony laughing, carefree.

He can admit, even just to himself, that even though it is not entirely right, he is glad that he will have him for one last night. One last night to feel the child’s affection for him. He is sure, that once Tony is back to normal, he won’t want anything to do with him again. He will avoid him and Stephen will lose the excuse to come to the Compound and just be with him.

His thoughts are getting darker and a headache starts to pound behind his eyes. He thinks back to what they had, to what he lost because of his own greed. He wanted Tony, he wanted to possess him, to make sure that everyone would know that he belongs to him. Everyone to know that he is Tony’s favorite person in the world, just as Tony is to him.

He dared to reach for that which did not belong to him and he lost him forever.

And so, even though it is not fair to his perfect genius, he is grateful to Loki for this last chance to hold him, show him his love, to say the last goodbye….

 

The door open and startle him, his Cloak flies through them lightning fast and wraps around Stephen’s shoulders, sensing his pain and offering comfort the only way he can.

The Cloak is not the only one who comes out though.

Pepper, the perfect future Mrs. Stark follows it.

She pries the bags of food out of his hand and hands it back to Peter saying “Eat, I need to talk to Dr. Strange, we will be back in a minute.”

Peter mutely nods and retreats back, the glass doors sliding shut quietly behind him.

Silence reigns the hallway, they stand opposite each other, assessing, waiting… until she sighs and breaks the silence: “Let’s not do this where they can see us, follow me.”

She doesn’t lead him far, just to the door left of the workshop. The room is packed with boxes, slightly dusty and messy and she, with her clean, pressed blouse and pencil skirt, stands out like a sore thumb.

Stephen just stares at her, he doesn’t even know why he is so quiet, it is not like him. He is used to be the one in charge of almost every situation, the one leading those around, but right now… right now he just can’t force himself to talk, to start what will, inevitably, be a painful conversation for him.

The burger helped, he is no longer ready to tear someone apart with his bare hands, but the anger was replaced by numbness, bone deep weariness. He is in no shape for a confrontation, especially with her, with a person who had everything he ever wanted and who threw it away so many times, only to snatch it back again.

So he stands and waits.

She sighs again and rubs a palm across her forehead. Her mask slips for a second and he can see the same tiredness in her.

“Doctor… Stephen. I’m sorry, but I can’t call you Dr. Strange while we have this conversation.”

He nods, allowing her to use his first name, even though it makes his teeth grind against each other.

“I wanted to apologize for the day in the Park.” she can see his mouth open, but doesn’t allow him to say a word “no, no. Let me finish. I apologize for the day in a park. I shouldn’t have called you a prick.”

“You called me a dickhead.”

“Okay dickhead, sorry I called you a dickhead. Fine?” she asks impatiently.

“This is the worst apology I’ve ever been given.” he deadpans, unwilling to make it easy for her.

She frowns, but forcefully pushes back an angry retort that sits at the tip of her tongue. It is not her intention to fight with him again, but boy, does he try her resolve. He annoys her trendemously, more than any of Tony’s cheap trashy one night stands ever could. She can admit that part of it is jealousy, but majority is because she genuinely thinks this man is a self entitled asshole. God, how can Tony like him?

“Look, I’m not here to argue with you again. I just wanted to clarify few things.”

He nods and waves his hands in a go on gesture. He folds his arms in front of his chest, he knows it is a defencive gesture and the glint in her eyes tells him she knows it too. He hates it, he hates giving her ammunition, showing his weakness, but he can’t force himself to let go. He feels like the arms, wrapped tightly around each other, are the only thing holding him from collapsing and spilling his every though, every hurt into his nemesis’ face.

“What Rhodey said in the Park… about Tony not mentioning you to us, it was not the truth.” she can see him lift his head quickly, the bright eyes now firmly looking into hers. She can see his questions in them, questions and a tiny bit of hope. She knew Rhodey’s words hurt him and in that moment she was glad for his pain, but her conscience soon raised its ugly head. But he was away by then and she had a child to take care of.

“Tony’s relationship with Rhodey was somewhat… strained lately. They do not talk as much as they used to.”

Stephen nods, he knows about that. Tony is still feeling guilty for crippling the soldier even though he had absolutely no hand in causing his injury and even though the prosthetics they developed together gave him his legs back. And once, when they drank themselves shitfaced, Tony told him how abandoned he feels by his oldest friend.

Pepper continues “What I’m trying to say is, that he  **did** mention you, to Happy and I. He talked about you for hours, about your projects, your magic, how much fun you had together....”

Stephen can’t hide his surprise, he sincerely believed Tony didn’t say a word about him to his family, that to him Stephen is just a random acquaintance, interesting maybe, but nothing ‘to write home about’.

His expression of surprise is an open book, but he still does not say a word, does not break his silence. He can’t, just can’t. What if he is misreading what she’s trying to say? What if it is a game, a ploy for her? What if it isn’t?

Nothing is more cruel than hope.

“There was not a day when I did not hear ‘Stepen did this’ and ‘Stephen did that’ and ‘Stephen and I’. Not one day for several months.

How would you feel if your fiance, the love of your life talked about someone else like that?”

She looks at him challengingly, daring him to imagine it, to finally speak.

He doesn't need long, he knows that feeling intimately, hot rage and surge of jealousy flooding his veins every time he saw a photo of them together, every article gushing about how beautiful and perfect they’re together, how they are meant for each other.

He can feel the echo of that anger even now. He looks at her “I would be angry, I would be devastated, I would want to find the other person and rip them to pieces.”

She nods, curtly. She knows he understands and she knows with absolute certainty that Stephen loves Tony, he loves him as much as she does.“So you understand me.”

“What do you want from me Miss Potts? Tony made it abundantly clear that he has no interest in me, you have nothing to worry about.”

Now it is her turn to be surprised. “What are you saying? What did he….” she looks at him helplessly “He broke up with me. He said, he….”

“He did what?!” Stephen can’t keep the hold on his emotions anymore. Surprise, anger, panic, hope, pure unadulterated joy, they all flood him in waves. He releases the tight clench of his hands, he starts pacing, then sits down on a crate, burying his face in the palms of his hands. His brain is short circuiting, unable to comprehend, to accept what she just said. He broke up with me, he broke up with me… a mantra of those five simple words runs through his head, over and over again. How? Why? When?

He looks up, looks at the woman he hates with a burning passion, hates like no one else in the world. He sees how small and defeated she looks right now and feels… disgust.

Disgust at himself, his behaviour. He blamed her, hated her for no other reason except the fact that she had Tony’s love while he did not. It was not fair, not racional, but then, jealousy rarely is.

She stands there, head bent down, with a defeated tilt to her shoulders. She looks so small, so vulnerable, that he needs to fight an urge to stand up and try to comfort her. But he can’t, can’t because it would not be welcome and neither it would be entirely honest.

He tightens his fists instead, tightens them until he feels a sharp prick of nails piercing the skin, he watches as tiny rivulets of dark red blood appear on his shaking palms. He doesn’t know what to say, but he knows he must ask one thing, he must know the truth. He does not look away from his hands and whispers “When?”

“About two weeks ago. He… came to me, agitated and just said, that it would not be fair to me for us to continue our relationship” her voice is dry, factual. As a drone reading a script, but Stephen can’t focus on that now, all he hears is two weeks ago.

Two weeks, fourteen days. Two weeks ago was  **after** their kiss, after he finally allowed himself to reach for what he wanted so long.

Would it be too much to hope? Their break-up could have had absolutely nothing with him. It surely looked like his advances were not welcome. Why else would Tony run and then avoid him? Could it be because he was guilty because of Pepper? He doesn’t dare to hope.

A soft, manicured hand lands on his shoulder, ripping him out of the recesses of his brain.

He looks up at her standing next to him “I love Tony, I will always love him” she says with quiet fervor “but I am not what he wants, not what he needs. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I know him and I know he has feelings for you. Fight for him Stephen, it might be the hardest fight of your life, but do not give up on him. He is worth it.”

He nods, mutely.

She turns at the heel and strides towards the door.

“Pepper!”

She stops in her tracks, but does not turn around, simply tilts her head towards him to indicate she is listening.

“Thank you, I know it must have been hard for you, I know…just thank you, for everything.”

She nods, still facing the door and then without further delay, leaves.

 

Stephen sits there for a long while, long enough for his brain to absorb what was being said, long enough for doubt to start creeping in.

He believes her, but what if she misread the situation?

What if Tony simply broke-up with her, but not because of Stephen?

If he loved him back, why would he run?

The dark thoughts swim behind his eyes until he feels dizzy, he just can’t think about it anymore, he can’t….

He stands abruptly, the need to see Tony, even if he still a child overwhelms him.

He will not think about it anymore today. Today is his last day with Little Tony, Little Tony who loves him and he will not allow any more of their time go to waste.

Maybe it was all a lie and Tony won’t want to see him ever again, he needs to enjoy it while it lasts.

He shuffles to the door and down the corridor towards the lab. He thinks about Pepper and about how he will look her in the eyes now, but she is no longer there, neither is Happy.

The room is messy, more than the usual for on top of unfinished projects everywhere, beeping bots and spare parts, the room is covered by empty McDonald’s wrapper and in the middle of that mess, sit Tony, Peter and Rhodey.

They are all coloring one big paper together and when Stephen comes near, he can see it is no children’s book, it is a mechanical chart of the Iron Man’s armor. Tony looks utterly adorable, brows furrowed and his little tongue peaking out in concentration as he colors the helmet. Stephen walks behind them, not wanting to disturb him and sits on the ground behind the boy.

Dummy rolls towards him, offering a ‘drink’. Stephen made that mistake once already, he took what the bot was offering and actually drank it, so he knows not to make that mistake again. Instead he pretends to take a sip, not wanting to offend the easily excited robot. Dummy releases a series of high beeps and turns around his axis, like a praised puppy.

The noises tear Tony’s look from the schematics and he notices Stephen.

“Ftee-en!” he yells and promptly crawls toward him, plopping himself into the older man’s lap. He wiggles around till he rests his back against the sorcerer’s chest and looks up on him adoringly. Stephen smiles, smoothing his disheveled fringe back and kisses his forehead “Hello bunny. Did you eat your dinner?”

“Uh-huh. Was yummy!”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Stephen can’t hold himself back, his hands keep running over the boy, as if committing him into hhis memory and Tony is apparently okay with it, he babbles about what he did while Stephen was away, about the movie he watched with Bruce, clearly still irked that Bruce did not allow him to try and create his own dinosaur, about the experiments they did together. The sorcerer is making sure to nod and encourage him in all the right places, he knows adult Tony hates when someone just pretends to be listening to what he wants to say and he can imagine he was no different as a child.

After a while, an uncertain look creeps into Tony’s eyes. He keeps looking up at Stephen and then quickly down into his lap, as if he wants to ask something and is afraid of Stephen’s reaction.

Stephen pulls him from his lap, hugging him close to his chest, while the Cloak immediately wraps around them both. “Tony, bunny, you know I love you very very much.”

His little face shoots up and a bright, if little gappy grin splits it almost in half. “Tony luvs Ftee-en too, thiiiis much” he spreads his little arm as far as they can go and Stephen can’t hold back his laugh. He kisses the tip of the boy’s nose, snickering at how adorably Tony scrunches it.

“I know something worries you, tell me and I will help.”

Tony looks at him blankly and then sighs, heavy sigh like all the worries of world are on his small shoulders. “Tony had bad dream.” he admits quietly.

“I know bunny, I’m so sorry.” he hugs him tightly.

“Ftee-en stay with Tony?” his voice is so small and vulnerable, big whiskey colored eyes look up at him helplessly.

The look could melt any heart, Stephen didn’t plan on leaving tonight, but even if he did, he would not be able to refuse Tony’s plea. “Of course love, I will, always.”

He is very aware of Peter and Rhodey in that moment, sitting there, watching and listening, but he can’t regret saying it at loud. He loves Tony, more than anyone and doesn’t have the strength to hide it anymore. They all know anyway.

He sees the clock behind them, it is almost 9:00PM, time for bed for little geniuses.

“How about we give you a bath and then go to sleep? It was a hard day for both of us.”

“Wif bubbles?”

Stephen scoffs playfully “What kind of monster you think I am? Of course with bubbles! I will even let you pick the smell.” It is a well guarded secret, but the adult Tony has always at least five different smelling bath bubbles at hand. It is a quirk, but an adorable one.

The child is clearly excited at the prospect and runs out of the room. Stephen turns to Peter and Rhodey “Loki is alive, which means he was behind the de-aging” then both nod in agreement “I will confront him tomorrow morning and make him turn him back. I would appreciate if you both could stay and help me, just in case….”

They nod, both understanding what was left unsaid, Loki can be dangerous and lash out if he feels cornered. They will need all hands if something goes wrong. No one wants to any further harm to come to their little genius.

Stephen does not wait for their answers, he knows  they will help. He runs after the little boy, grabbing him and tossing him into the air. The sound of delighted shrieks and giggles flies through the Compound, making anyone who hears it smile.


	20. Chapter 20

It is morning and Stephen is laying in bed with Tony snuggled into his chest. The bed is comfy and warm, it feels like a heaven on Earth, so why is he awake?

A quiet knock on the door interrupts his peace.

Ah, yeah. Someone was knocking and woke him up, how rude.

He looks at his watch, it’s just half past 7. Why do they bother them? Maybe if he won’t respond they will leave. He buries himself deeper under the blanket and pets Tony’s head to remove the little frown that appeared when he moved.

The knock comes again, little bit louder, more insistent this time. Stephen can’t hold back a huff of frustration. He wants nothing more than to stay in bed, but he is afraid that whoever it is will wake the child. Tony woke up several times during the night, the echo of what that bitch did to him still haunting his dreams. Stephen was of course there, drying tears and offering comfort in anyway he could, but Tony still needs his sleep.

He extricates himself from the boy’s grasp and tiptoes to the door, ready to whisper-yell at anyone who is stupid enough to disturb them.

The angry words die on his tongue when he opens the door and sees Peter on the other side.

The teenager squirms and quickly looks down “Dr. Strange, I'm so sorry for bothering you, but…” he stops and coughs few times awkwardly.

“What is it Peter?” Stephen asks, forcing his voice to sound calm. He does not want to yell at Peter, it looks like he might flee if he raises his voice. “Is something wrong? What happened?”

“No! Nothing is wrong! It's just, it is Tuesday and I… “ he looks up.

Then it clicks, of course it's Tuesday, school day and Peter is miles away from the City, no way of getting there on time.

“You need me to portal you home?”

“Yes, no, I mean yes, I need to go to school or Aunt May will skin me alive, but what if you need help with Loki and I am not here? I would never forgive myself if something happened to Tony!”

Stephen sighs, the boy is simply too good for this world. He wanted Tony to sleep in a little, to have little bit more time with him, but he can't add more to the boy's shoulders. “I understand Peter. Do you have your school things here?”

Peter nods, lifting a beat up backpack.

“Okay, how about we confront him now and then I'll portal you directly to school?”

“That would be so awesome Dr. Strange! Can you portal me right in front of Ned? He would be sooo excited!”

Stephen can’t help the indulgent smile, the boy is so easy to please.

“Wherever you want. Could you wake Tony for me? Wait till FRIDAY tells you it’s safe to come into the Common room. I will wake our resident gods” he rolls his eyes to show how happy is he about the task, but he can't send anyone else. He just hopes that the Asgardians are early risers.

 

FRIDAY told him that Loki is still in his brother's rooms. He knocks on the door, hoping that it won't be Loki who answers. But there is no one, not a peep is heard, so he knocks again. Nothing.

He tries the handle and it is unlocked, so he gently pushes the door open and peeks in.

The three Asgardians are there together with Bruce, sleeping on the unfolded couch.

Bruce is lying on his back, with Loki's head nestled on his chest. Thor is right behind his brother, clutching onto him even in his sleep. Heimdall is pressed against Thor's back, one arm and leg thrown over the Thunderer.

Stephen has this weird little image of an asgardians puppy pile in his brain and can’t hold back a snort.

“Move a step closer and you are dead.” Loki’s deadpan voice stops him in his track. He is glaring at him from beneath his fringe, the green of his seidr is making his eyes glow. He slowly sits up, ready to attack or defend, Stephen knows not, but is stopped when both Bruce and Thor automatically reach for him.

He swats their hands away and growls “Wake up you fools! Our enemy is here!”

That wakes them up pretty quickly, at least Heimdall and Thor, the warriors shot up in the bed, alert and looking for a threat.

Bruce on the other hand just peeks at Stephen with one eye and grumbles “I told you not to bother us today” and promptly snuggles into Loki’s side, arms wrapped around the god’s waist. “We sleep now, you can argue tomorrow.”

“It is already tomorrow you moron!” Stephen does not bother to hide his irritation.

“Friend Stephen, it is barely morn, surely we can postpone this discussion to more appropriate hour.” Thor tries his best to reason, he is not an early riser and their arguing woke him from a dream about being surrounded by a group of very eager and very well endowed maidens who would do anything to please their king. He wants nothing more than go back to sleep and finish it.

“No we can’t postpone it! Peter needs to be in school soon and he wants to be here when he returns Tony back!” he wildly gestures towards Loki.

“Whoever is this Tony and where do you think I took him?” Loki asks with a put upon sigh.

“Tony Stark, the Iron man, he is his boyfriend.” Bruce mumbles, face still smushed against Loki’s hip.

The God of Mischief looks at him with a mocking smirk “You’re Stark’s boyfriend?” he stresses the word ‘boyfriend’ the most irritating way possible. “So you have as bad taste in men, as in your garments, how unsurprising.”

“You greasy little asshole! I will drag you…” Stephen starts climbing onto the couch, hands reaching for Loki, who knocks them away laughing meanly.

“Hey, hey! Come on guys, knock it off!” Bruce finally gives up on sleep when they almost throw him off the couch with their childish fight. He sits up and shoves Stephen away, making him stumble off of Loki and almost to the ground. “You are acting like three years old!”

Stephen glares back, but stops trying to get closer to Loki, opting instead for sitting on the side of the bed and glaring with his arms crossed. “You promised Bruce!”

“Okay, okay.” he turns to Loki “about a week ago, Tony Stark got de-aged in the middle of the night, he was turned to approximately three years old and we found a green tinted magic in his room. Stephen thinks you did it and wants you to turn him back.”

“But I did not do it! I was…” his eyes shift quickly towards Stephen and back to Bruce “you know.”

“Yeah, I know. But maybe you could have a look and turn him back?”

“You can’t seriously believe him! He is a liar!”

Bruce glares at Stephen, making him shut up, but it is Thor who clarifies “It could not be my brother, he was... not here at the time.”

Stephen squints at them, they obviously know where the asshole was, but do not want to tell. Stephen honestly does not care, he could rot in Hell for what he cares, but to believe just his word… “And you believe him? He comes here after faking his death  **again** and you just immediately believe him? No questions asked? Honestly, how stupid are you?”

“Hey!” the word came from both Bruce and surprisingly Heimdall, Loki just glared, but Thor, Thor’s expression is downright scary, Stephen would say thunderous if it would not be just a bad pun “Stephen” he starts slowly, a sound of thunder can be heard in the distance “you are part of this team and I respect you, but say something like that again and you will feel my wrath. I know my brother, I know when he is lying and he is not, he was not the one who turned Anthony into a child.”

Stephen can feel a chill run down his spine, he was never afraid of Thor before, but now he sees how far will the asgardian go to protect his brother. He concedes then, seeing no other option. “I’m sorry Thor” he bows his head “I did not mean to offend you, it’s just… Tony needs us and after what that bitch did to him, he had nightmares all night long, his mind can’t deal with it in this state.”

“You’re forgiven. And do not worry, my brother will help Anthony.”

“Hey!” Loki protests.

“You  **will** brother, I am your king and I said so!” he grins at him mischievously.

Loki’s answer is just an exaggerated eye roll, the drama queen, but he does shuffle off the couch “Lead the way sorcerer.”

 

Everyone gathers in the Common room, well except the Rogers’ lot, no one wants to deal with them right now.

Peter carries Tony, still sleep mussed, but curiously looking around.

“Hewwo” he greets and Stephen can see the first real smile appear on Loki’s face. The god moves towards the boys and Stephen automatically moves to block him, only to be stopped by Thor’s heavy hand on his shoulder. He forces himself to remain calm.

“Hello little one, my name is Loki. I am Thor’s brother.”

“Hewwo Woki, I Tony.” the boy stretches his arms, clearly indicating that he wants the god to hold him.

Stephen heart stops a little upon seeing the child in his arms, but the god is surprisingly gentle. He shifts him, so the boy sits in the crook of his left arm and lets him explore his armor a little bit. The little prick magicked it on while they were walking to the Common room, show off.

It seems that Tony is fascinated by Loki’s helmet, pudgy little hands reaching up to touch it until the god takes it off, so he can see it more clearly.

“Pwetty” Tony comments as he pets it shyly.

“Thank you, little one. Tell me, are you hungry?”

“Uh-huh” Tony nods with enthusiasm, he is always hungry!

“Brother! We must prepare a feast worthy of Asgard! This little warrior is starving!” Tony giggles, eyes adoringly planted on Loki, entirely oblivious to the surprised looks they are getting from the others.

“Right away brother! We shall not leave him hungry or the honor of Asgard will be lost! I shall bring you the Tarts of Pop, the most worthy Midgardian breakfast or die on my quest!” he says like it is a matter of life and death and Loki nods back equally serious, while Tony tries to stifle his giggles in Loki’s armor.

Stephen looks around, just to make sure he was not transferred into some other alternate universe or the Twilight zone, but all he sees is everyone looking at the brothers with strange fondness, well except Bruce who is staring at Loki with what Stephen can only describe as hearts in his eyes. How did he not notice it earlier?

He is thorn from his musings by a ping of the microwave. Thor and Loki continue they sharade, Loki insisting that such a noble warrior as ‘Anthony the great’ cannot be expected to feed himself, puts him on his lap and encourages the boy to order Thor to feed him.

While Tony orders Thor around, Loki lets his seidr reach out towards him, trying to find out what spell was used or who did it. The energy he finds thrumming in the boy’s blood feels strangely similar to his own seidr, he digs around little bit more until he is sure that he is not mistaken, but there is no doubt. But why would she do it?

The boy finishes his breakfast and leans back against Loki’s chest with a content sigh, completely oblivious to the tension running through the room.

It is Thor who breaks the silence, he rubs the crumbs off of Tony’s face and looks up “You know who did it?”

Loki nods with a heavy sigh, he looks up towards ceiling and Stephen, for just a little moment thinks that he prays to God, but instead he shouts: “Mother! Mother why did you do it? Come here!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reaaaly need to rewrite the summary, it has absolutely nothing to do with where this fic went :)  
> And also adjust some parts of the 1. chapter, but don't worry, no plot changes.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who is a big boy again?

“Mother? Our mother? She did this? She can come here?” Thor jumps out of the sofa, excited like never before.

“Well not exactly.”

Before Loki can say more, a ripple of darkness opens in the middle of the room. “I thought you wanted to keep it a secret darling.” Hella steps out. She is dressed in a long green and black flowing gown, a black, antlers like crown sitting on her head. “Hello brother. Won’t you give me a hug?”

Thor instead charges her with an enraged yell, his joy turned into disappointment and then to pure rage.

Bruce, Stephen and Rhodey run towards the sofa, desperate to keep Tony out of harm’s way, Loki shoves him quickly into Bruce’s hands and steps between his brother and the woman who as he found out, is his biological mother.

“Thor stop! Listen to me!” he tries to push him back, but he is no match for the older god, Hella laughing mockingly behind his back is not exactly helping either.

Thor grabs Loki, fully intent on throwing him away and killing the hag that cost him Asgard when two dark arms wrap around him from the back “Stop and listen to what they have to say Thor” Heimdall tries to calm him down.

His best friend whirls around “Did you know about this madness? Did you know that she convinced him that she is his mother?”

“I did not convince him of anything, it is the truth.”

“Shut up! I will not believe this poison. Loki! Loki you can’t believe her, she is a liar, pure evil! She destroyed our home and now she wants to bind you to her!”

Loki still stands between then, his eyes are sad when he looks at the man he called a brother for millennia.

“Thor, I am the God of Lies, I know when someone is lying to me. Please believe me.”

“She deceived you! You are not infallible! Frigga is your mother, not her!”

“You know that in my heart, Frigga will be always my mother, she is the one who raised me, the one who made me who I am today, but… we both know that I was adopted.”

Thor rips himself out of Heimdall’s hold and grabs Loki, gently taking his face into his hands. “Yes Loki, I know that. But Father brought you to us from Jotunheim, you are a Jotun, not Hella’s son” he tries to say it as gently as possible, he knows that his brother still struggles with his nature, but it must be said. He must make him see that she is deceiving him, he must protect him.

“He is only half Jotun” Hella slinks closer, laying a hand on Loki’s back, sandwiching him him between them. “His father was the Jotun King, Laufey, but I am his mother. I left him on Jotunheim because I knew Father was coming for me, I did not want my baby to fall into his hands. To be locked away or killed with me.” She smooths her hand down Loki’s hair, her mind going back to the time before all she knew was darkness, to the time when she held him in her arms, small and defenseless, her little spark in the darkness. Sometimes she wondered if the madness that consumed her in her cage would not be so strong if she had him with her, or he was never born at all. All those centuries spent imagining how does he look like, where he is and the all consuming fear that Odin did find and killed him…. 

“No! I do not believe it!” Thor is stubborn, he can see the similarities between them, from their high cheekbones, through their similar build, they even act and dress similarly, but no, he can’t believe it. Father would never lie about something this important, he would tell them, he… but would he? He hid Hella for more than thousand years, he hid so many things…. He looks pleadingly into Loki’s eyes “Please brother, tell me this isn’t the truth.”

Loki hugs him, it is the first time since his failed coronation that Loki truly hugged him and that more that the whisper of “Her seidr is the same as mine.” makes him believe them.

His shoulders sag in defeat, clutching the younger god to himself while he looks up into her eyes “You will not take him from me.”

 

“Hey what’s going on here?”

Great, exactly what they needed, Rogers and his merry band of fools joining the dance.

“Not your concern Rogers, you may as well fuck off where you came from.” Rhodey does not hold back his annoyance, it is too early for this shit.

He is tired and tense, expecting a fight and dreading it at the same time, but the Asgardians completely ignore them, too engrossed in their own squabbles. He ignores the indignant shouts from the newcomers and approaches the new chick who is still locked in a staring contest with Thor with Loki squeezed between them.

“Sorry to interrupt this family gathering or whatever, it is all very fascinating, but this is not why we are here.”

All three look at him with matching frowns and he kind of regrets his tone.

He cleans his throat “I mean, Loki claims, that it was you who deaged Tony” he gestures towards the boy, barely visible behind the wall of Stephen, Peter and Bruce.

“Ah yes, my Merchant. That is why you called me darling?” She turns back to Loki.

“Yes, they thought it was me who turned him and asked me for help. I recognized your seidr.”

“Indeed, well what do you want? Isn’t he cute like that?” she waves a little, just with the tip of her fingers, in the direction of Tony and his group of protectors.

“Yeah, he is, but we still want back the adult version.” this time Rhodey makes sure his tone is appropriately respectful. The lady is oozing danger and craziness more than Loki ever did. He is kind of afraid of letting her near his best friend, but what other option he has?

Apparently he is not the only one uncomfortable with that idea, he can see eyes shifting back and forth, fists clenching… but it is of course Rogers who is the only one brave or stupid enough to block her path.

“Who are you and how do we know you’ll not hurt him?” he postures in front of her threateningly, trying to intimidate her with his bulk. Loki would laugh at his poor attempt, if he wasn’t too immersed in trying to figure out why she did it, thinking back to the talks they had. Did he even mention the Iron Man? He didn’t think so, so why would she think his de-aging would influence him in any way? Or it wasn’t about the mortal and him? Was it about Bruce and he? She is the only one outside the two of them that know what happened, how they became close after they left the ruins of Asgard behind….

“Hmm, how rude. Gentlemen should introduce first. Ap-ap” Hella shushes Steve when he opens his mouth “do not hurt yourself. I am Hella, the Goddess of Death of course.” she preens, making her crown grow even bigger, darkness swirling around her.

“So you are Thor’s crazy sister?” and that’s Barton, not being able to keep his big mouth shut. The glare she throws him makes his legs shake and hand go for his bow. She rolls her eyes at the useless gesture, as if a simple bow could kill her. Stupid mortal, she tells them she is the Goddess of death and all he can think of is her relation to that fool. Are all these mortals so stupid?

She scans the others gathered behind the cheap knock-off of her brother still blocking her way.

Boring Midgardians, some artificial male with… is that the Mind stone in his forehead? Hmmm, interesting. One of the previously hidden Midgardians is slowly inching towards them, drawing her gaze. Well, this one is interesting for a mortal, full of delicious darkness and rage, a murderer, strong and very very fetching.

She sidesteps the bumbling idiot and approaches “Well hello there darling.” she runs her hand over the hard muscles of his pectorals.

“Hey! Don’t you touch him!” a wave of a hand and Steve is suddenly flying over the room, his body crashing into the coffee table. Hella ignores him and the mess he made, her eyes never straying from Bucky. 

Bucky just stands there, perfectly imitating a deer caught in the headlights.

“Mother!” Loki yells, embarrassment coloring his voice, no one wants to see their parent flirt with anyone, especially not with some lowly mortal.

She just throws him a wink over her shoulder, so he adds “This is not why are we here!”

She pouts exaggeratedly and leans towards the former Winter Soldier, running one sharp nail down his cheek “Later then.” She throws a wicked smile to Steve, who gathered himself up and plastered himself to Bucky’s back, clearly stating his claim, while glaring at Hella with all his might. He can be glad she finds his display of possessiveness amusing instead of taking offence.

“Please Mother, stop!” Loki doesn’t even care if he sounds like a whiny teenager anymore, he just can’t watch her flirt with everyone! He slumps on the sofa, eyes covered by his arm.

“Alright, alright. I’m going.” she turns towards the group shielding Tony, mumbling something beneath her breath, something that sounds suspiciously like ‘mothers have needs too, especially when they were locked away for as long as I was’.

They all rather pretend not to hear it.

 

It goes against every instinct Stephen has to let her pass. His stomach is clenching ever since she came and the fact that Tony will be soon back to his adult self registered. Just few more minutes and he will be facing the genius for the first time since their kiss. Since Tony threw him out and ignored him for weeks. He braces himself for the inevitable scorn, but deep down still hopes that Tony can love him, that he will go to him once he is back and tell him how wrong he was. Why would he cling to him as a child otherwise?

Surely he must love him back, he could see it, feel it in their every touch, every word, he poured his love out and got the same back. He could not delude himself that much! Even Potts saw it! Could they be both wrong? 

He watches Hella approaching Bruce and feels a warm hand slip into his, he looks down and sees that it is Peter, the teenager offering comfort the only way he can and Stephen suddenly has to push back the sting of tears. Only Peter is and always was on his side, he is not blind, he knows that the others would not miss him if he never showed up again, but Peter, Peter cares. He was angry at Stephen when he though that he cheated on Tony, he genuinely cared when Stephen admitted the hard truth of their relationship and now, now he is on his side, squeezing his hand and offering support whatever might happen next. Stephen can’t hold it back, he releases his hand and grabs him around his shoulders, pulling him close. He can feel the boy tremble, worried that the man who he considers father will get hurt, or worse that he will never come back to them. But there is nothing they can do, they are helpless and the their only hope is a stranger, deadly and dangerous.

  
  


Tony had the weirdest dream, he was transformed into a child and the other Avengers had to take care of him. It was a nice dream, nicer than most of his these days, but weird as fuck. Everybody was suddenly cooing at him and hugging him, being nice and smiling, genuinely smiling at him. He should definitely stop drinking again.

He stirs around, slowly realizing he is not in his comfy bed, but is laying on a hard surface with worried voices buzzing around. Did he fall asleep in the workshop again? Fuck!

The voices are getting louder, more clear and agitated and he wants, just for a second to pretend that he is still asleep, just so he doesn’t have to face their ugly judgmental mugs.

He changes his mind when he recognizes Peter’s voice, Peter, who is obviously trying hold back tears and begs him to open his eyes, to look at him. He disappointed the boy too many times not to instinctively want to reassure him.

He opens his eyes and blinks owlishly. There is a tall, dark haired chick standing above him, looking down disapprovingly with hands at her hips. She is strangely familiar, reminds him of… “Hey! Who let one of the crazy Loki fans into the Compound again?! You know how deranged they are!” He is joking of course, but the chick really looks like one of Loki’s lot.

She growls down on him and he can see her lift her leg with a wicked looking stiletto, he guesses that she probably wants to step on him and pierce his heart, but is thrown off the course when Peter zips around her at full speed, almost knocking her over and throws himself at Tony.

“Dad!” the boy yells into his ear, excited but with voice still strained with worry and tears. What the fuck happened for Peter to freak out like that? Tony’s genius mind goes into overdrive, scanning all facts and possible explanation, no matter how improbable they are. His mind comes to the obvious conclusion. “Am I dying?”

There are few wet chuckles around him and he remembers, that there are others in the room as well. Rhodey, with wet eyes, but a smile so wide it splits his face almost in half. Bruce, kneeling next to him, hand hovering outstretched as if he is afraid Tony will disappear if he touches him.

Stephen.

Tony quickly averts his eyes, he can’t face him, can’t face what they did, not now. His eyes glue themselves to Peter, still sniveling into his chest, much much safer target. 

But still, in the millisecond when their eyes met, he could see the hope and pain in the sorcerer’s eyes, he felt answering pain in his own chest.

He is desperate for diversion, his eyes now locked on Peter’s head. He taps his shoulder and waits till the boy looks him in the eyes.

“Did you just call me Dad?”

He can see the shock on the teenager’s face, he probably didn’t  even notice what he said it. He can see the shock turn into embarrassment, he half expects Peter to start babbling apologies, but he surprises him, instead shame there is a stubbornness. “And what if I did?” there is a challenge in his voice, but it’s a challenge that hides vulnerability, Tony knows the boy all to well not to see it.

He can feel his face soften, warm feeling spreading from his heart into his limbs. “Nothing kiddo, nothing.”

Peter laughs, just a little giggle and buries his face back into Tony’s chest.

Tony hugs him as hard as he can, not willing to let go, to face what really happened to him. He did not miss that no one answered his question about dying.

His mind is dragged from the dark thoughts when he feels Peter rub his snotty nose into his naked chest. Ewww!

Wait! Naked chest? Is he naked?

He is! Laying there like an idiot with a teenager crying on top of him and everybody looking at them, looking  at him, whatever. He can feel his face heating, he was never embarrassed by his body and honestly this is not his first time naked around a group of strangers, but Peter! and and oh God! Stephen!

“Hey, I’m really okay, I mean glad you want to call me Dad” he rambles “but… could you maybe do it, you know, when I’m not… ehm… naked?”

It is a second till his words register, but the moment they do, Peter jumps off of him so hard he gets stuck to the ceiling. “Oh my god! You are naked!”

Tony really, really wants to say ‘no shit Sherlock’, but is kind of busy trying to cover his junk and ignoring everyone around. Why are they standing there like idiots?

Suddenly there is a warm, red cloak sliding around his shoulders, covering him almost from neck to toes and he relaxes. He always liked the Cloak, even if he studiously avoids its owner right now, the Cloak always reminded him of his bots. An inanimate objects, brought to life.

He pets it absentmindedly, while avoiding everyone’s eyes until the silence gets unbearable. “So what happened?”

A thud makes him look to his right, right on time to see Rhodey sit on the ground and pull him into his side. “Well Tones, you would not believe it if we told you. But I have pictures as evidence.” his grin is strangely vicious, Tony is almost afraid to look at the cellphone he brandished. He did not make a fool out of himself for years, so he is long overdue.

I takes him embarrassingly long to connect the dots.

He looks at picture after picture of a small, dark haired boy. In one picture he is dressed as the Spider-man sitting on Peter’s shoulders, in another in a white coat and protection goggles mixing something in a big see through bank while Bruce smiles fondly down at him. The funniest is with Stephen, the sorcerer and the boy are in a park and Stephen holds him as far away from himself as possible, allowing Rhodey a clear shot of his puked on shirt, an expression of utter disgust on his face.

They go through the photos three times until Tony realizes that the scenes are familiar to him, almost like a deja-vu, like he’s been there, lived it.

He thinks back to his weird dream, how he dreamed of being a child with the Avengers taking care of him. Is it possible that it was not a dream? That it really happened?

He remembers the strange chick suddenly, whipping his around, wanting to see if she is real and realizes how many people gathered around him. Avengers, old and new, Thor, some big black dude, Loki? Is that Loki? Was he the chick? No, she is there as well, standing little bit farther away, being shielded by the God of Mischief.

He can feel his breathing speed up, eyes flying from face to face frantically. What the hell happened? Was he really a small child? For how long? What happened? How did it happen. The questions swirls inside his head like angry snake, hissing and sliding through each other. He doesn’t even notice how laboured is his breath getting, or how hard he started to shake. It takes a while to realize that Rhodey is still right beside him, stroking his back and murmuring to him in a calming voice, it takes even longer to realize that his left hand is squeezed in other, in Stephen’s hand. His head whips up upon that realization and he instinctively rips his palm out of his, hiding his face in Rhodey’s shoulder. He hides from the situation, from their stares, but mainly, mainly he hides from the pain he saw in Stephen’s eyes.

It takes a while till his mind registers anything else, till he is actually able to comprehend what Rhodey is saying. “What?” he asks, he heard him this time, but there needs to be something wrong with his ears because Rhodey surely did not say that.

“You were a kid Tony” Rhodey repeats gently, he did not expect Tony to go into panic attack after showing him the pictures, he expected anger, laughter, but not panic and now he feels guilty again. “Hella, the Goddess of Death de-aged you. You were about three and you did not remember anything past that age. You did not know us.”

“I did not know you and I stayed?” Tony is suspicious, from what he remembers as a boy, he was not very obedient, especially towards someone he did not now.

“Not for a lack of trying, that’s for sure. There were some of us you instinctively trusted, like Peter or Stephen” Tony cringes at the mention of the sorcerer, he looks back to what he originally thought of as a dream, to all those moments he clung to Stephen, how he said….

“But you tried to run away at the beginning, if you did not see Peter, god knows where you’d have ended.”

Tony nods in understanding and slowly pushes up, he needs to know why she did it, what was the purpose of this torture and he can’t do it very well sitting on the ground with only the Cloak of Levitation covering him.

He shuffles, legs little unsteady, but Peter does not hesitate and jumps to his side, easily sliding beneath his arm and steadying him. They inch forward until they stand in front of the Goddess.

She is standing next to Loki, both with arms crossed in front of their chest, looking like they somehow belong together.

“You are welcome mortal” she starts when he opens and closes his mouth few times without uttering a sound.

He frowns “I am welcome? Should I be grateful? What for? Why did you do it? Was it funny for you?” he can’t hold back the anger.

“You should remember everything that happened, aren’t you glad that your state brought your shield brothers and protectors back together?”

He laughs mirthlessly “Yeah, sure so glad. Why don’t you spill the truth? What is your problem with me?”

“Do not flatter yourself you little maggot, it had nothing to do with you.”

Loki grabs her arm.

“Why then? Why mother? I was trying to figure it out over the last 20 minutes, but I have no clue.”

“My sweet darling” she smooths his hair away from his face “how innocent you still are, can’t you feel it? Can’t you see the change in your seidr?”

Loki frowns, he did not notice anything. What did she see?

He grabs hold of the energy that flows inside his body, scanning every line, every little spark while she just stands there, smiling at him gently. “I felt it the moment you came to me, look deeper, look here” she gently lies her hand on his belly and so that is where he focuses. There is nothing at first, his body is his and nothing change, but he keeps digging and digging, deeper and deeper until he finds it, there is a spark in him, spark of a foreign seidr inside him, foreign and yet the same.

 

“What happened? What is wrong with him?” Bruce squeezes next to Tony. “Loki, come on! Tell me what’s wrong with you!”

The god is entirely unresponsive, just standing there, gaping at Hella with half scared, half excited expression.

Hella turns back towards them, first looking at Tony “As I said, it had nothing to do with you, you were nothing more than a means to an end, it was you who was tested” now she is focused on Bruce.

“I observed you very closely mortal and not just within the last week, I watched you sleep, eat, bathe” she smirks at his offended gasp “but mostly I observed you with the child.”

“But why?! What did you achieve by that?!”

“Well… I had to judge what kind of father you’d be, I can’t let my grandchild in hands of someone like Odin, I would rather kill you here and now.”

Bruce has seven doctorates! Seven! But right now, right now his mind just stops….

“Hold on Hella! You can’t seriously claim that my brother would have a child with Banner! That’s impossible!” Thor again pulls Loki into his arms and glares at her.

“Wha…” Bruce tries, no, still not able to form a full sentence, or even a word….

“And why not?”

“Are you really that crazy that you do not know how children are made? There needs to be…” he sees her grin and Banner’s frozen face. He grabs Loki by his shoulders and makes him look into his eyes. “Loki, tell me that this is not the truth, tell me she is lying again!”

The younger god looks up, fear and sadness appearing in his eyes “Thor, please.”

“No Loki! You will tell me!”

Shoulders slumping Loki looks sideways towards Bruce who still stands there with mouth gaping and eyes locked on Loki’s abdomen. “While we were travelling from Asgard towards Midgard, I found myself... in need of a companion else than that of my brother.” Thor frowns at that, but he is afraid to interrupt. “I… we talked few times, had some drinks, one thing led to another and I...I… you know that Jotuns are hermaphrodites, having both sets of… ehm… pipes?”

 

There are many different reactions to Loki’s admission from Bruce’s joy, through Clint’s anger and Thor's disbelief to Tony’s:

“Bruce! How come you always attract all the homicidal maniacs in vicinity!” his eyes move to Natasha, not being subtle at all. Loki notices and frowns thunderously, stretching his arms towards the small scientist and yanking him towards himself, completely ignoring any protests.

Thor can’t hold back a laugh “That’s true! First Natasha, then Valkyrie and now my brother. You certainly have a type Banner!”

“Do not mention that wench in front of me!” Loki shouts as a vague shape of a dagger starts to materialize in his hand.

“Valkyrie and I were just friends and you know it Thor! Stop antagonizing your brother!” with that he turns to face Loki and hides his face in the god’s neck, hugging him close.

There are many things said, or shouted. Everybody has an opinion and does not hesitate to express it, but the best one, the one everyone will always remember, comes from Peter:

“Magical genius Hulk baby? Awesome!” he yells, rushing forward to rub the prince’s belly, completely oblivious to how terrified the others look at that the mental picture of Hulk/Loki offspring.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> right in the feels this one. Enjoy

Tony saves Peter, just barely.

How could the boy think that he can just come up to Loki of all people and try to touch him? Not even his supernatural reflexes save him from Loki catching his arm before it could get anywhere near his belly and twisting it behind his back.

Tony jumps forwards, trying to dig his nails into the god’s wrist as hard as possible, but the fucker does not even twitch! It is as if he is not feeling it at all!

Okay, so maybe it is not Tony who saves the boy, maybe it is Bruce,who stands on his tiptoes whispering something into Loki’s ear, making him smirk. Maybe.

The important thing is that Peter is free and Tony pushes him behind his back before he can act like an idiot again.

Loki looks at him with disdain, but he cannot muster real anger, not when Bruce whispers to him how happy he is that everyone knows to whom he belongs now and how happy he’d be to show him exactly how much he missed him. The God of Mischief looks around, drinking in the emotions running through the room, anger, joy, confusion and disdain and decides that he caused enough chaos for now and deserves a reward. He grabs the shorter man, making sure to grab his ass and to squeeze it for everyone, especially that red headed wench to see and teleports them into Thor’s bedroom.

And if his brother comes and interrupts? Well, that’s his problem. He earned a little time off and plans to enjoy it fully.

 

The gathered Avengers jump when the pair disappears and promptly return to their favorite pastime of yelling and arguing.

Steve sees Tony trying to slink out of the door without anyone noticing and gently grabs his arm.

“Woa! Easy there pal!” Tony quickly rips himself from his grasp. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Easy Tony” Steve holds his hands palms up to show he means no harm. “I just wanted to say how great is it to have you back with us.”

The genius squints his eyes in suspicion “Yeah? And why is that?”

A muscle twitches in Captain's chiseled jaw “Let’s not do this in here. Can we talk in private?”

Before Tony can open his mouth and send him where the Sun does not shine, Peter wraps his arms around his new Dad and answers “Why would you need to talk in private? Anything you'd like to say to him can be said in front of us all.” If Tony is surprised at his challenging tone or the way he sounds like a jealous boyfriend, he does not show it.

“I just wanted to explain what happened while he was… gone. And there is too much noise in here.” the Captain starts, immediately on defensive.

“Yeah suuure, but oh look everyone is quiet now, so there is no need to leave.” the boy waves his hand, indicating how everyone fell silent and is now listening to their conversation.

Steve can’t stop the frown appearing on his face, he wanted to talk with Tony alone, the small scientist is always much more… respectful to him when it is just the two of them, but knows a lost fight when he sees one. “Okay, let’s sit down at least.”

The group moves as one towards the sofa, even Hella, who somehow manages to sit right next to Bucky, throwing Steve a mocking, victorious grin.

 

Steve starts slowly, talking about how they found little Tony, carefully avoiding the fact he did not trust any of them, how Peter called Stephen and they discovered the magic in his room.

Tony is listening quietly, his brain looking for any half-truths and embellishments the Captain waves into his story. He does not trust Steve to tell the whole truth, he always liked to make himself look better in any story shared.

“I realized how tense our relationship became over the last few months and I know part of it is my fault.” he ignores the obviously fake gasp of surprise coming from Rhodey and stubbornly continues. “I know you didn’t like to be forced to live here with us and therefore I petitioned with the Committee to change the rules, you do not have to live here anymore, unless you want to of course.” he looks at him with wide, puppy dog eyes and Tony does not believe him a word. His suspicion is proven right when Rhodey, who just simply can't hold it back anymore, snorts derisively and adds “And the fact that Bruce threatened to send the Hulk after you if you don’t had absolutely nothing with it right? You are a liar Captain.”

“Bruce did that? Why?” the insecure confusion in Tony's voice squeezes his best friend's heart.

“Because he is your friend and he cares about you. He was not aware of the problems between you and the Captain. He was very angry when he found out.”

There is still doubt in those beautiful whiskey eyes, but also a sliver of hope, Tony wants to believe that Bruce is still his friend, but he still remembers the months while fighting Thanos, how distant Brucie was. He needs to talk with Bruce, needs to hear it from him.

“Tony” Steve interrupts his musings “I know that things have been strained between us ever since the thing in Siberia, but you need to know that I consider you one of my closest friends, please stay here, let us be a team again.”

The whole room is quiet, everyone is waiting for Tony's reply.

The billionaire sighs heavily and looks at the man he once considered his leader and friend and now can think of only as an enemy. “We're not a team Steve, we weren't one since the Ultron, maybe even before that. You made sure of it. I tolerated your behaviour because there was always bigger issue, bigger threat to fight, but I had enough. I don’t want to live with you, work with you and I certainly don’t want to be friends with you. You are a bad friend Steve Rogers. I'm moving back to my Tower.” with that he stands and marches out of the room.

His heart is beating like crazy, but not in fear, nor panic. It is excitement he feels, excitement that he was finally able to stand up for himself, finally able to get rid of those leeches in his life.

He has absolutely no idea what he will do when he is back in Tower, Iron Man is who he was for such a long time, but now, now he feel like it might be time to retire, at least for a while.

 

Tony left the room with booming sound of silence, no one expected this results, least of them Steve. He wants to stand up, to run after Tony and make him see the mistake he is doing, but Bucky grabs his arm before he can start moving, his love knowing him too well. “Let him be doll” he whispers “you will only make it worse.”

“But Bucky! I can't just let him go, he is upset and will regret his choice, I know it!”

“No, he will not. And even if he does, it will be his issue. You need to accept it.”

“But!”

“NO! I said let it go!” Steve would argue further, would try to make them see if it was anyone else than Bucky. He knows the glint in his boyfriend's eyes, Bucky is already decided and nothing will change his mind.

“So what we will do without him?” the Captain slumps on the sofa, curling himself into Bucky's side.

“You will continue as you did by now, you still have a team, the Avengers are not over just because Iron Man is no longer part of it.” Bucky tries to console him “you still have me, Wilson, Nathasha, Rho…”

“Egh, no. Not Rhodey. I was part of this team because of Tones, to guard his back, but if he's out, I'm out too.”

“You cannot just quit!” Steve is angry again, approaching the Soldier threateningly. “Just because Tony gave up, it does not mean there is no more need for the Avengers! What if something like Thanos will come again?”

Rhodey won't let himself be intimidated by the Captain's bulk, he is not the first hot-headed soldier who tried that tactic “The world is not divided between the Avengers and civilians! If there is a threat, the War Machine and Iron Man will fight for sure, but not under you, never under your command again!”

“But why? I just don’t get why are you all so suddenly against me!”

Rhodey doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry. Is he really serious? After the last week, after the reveal of what happened in Siberia, after Wanda's attack!

“Just the fact that you need to ask that question shows how bad at leading you really are. You do not care about your people, you don’t know anything about us. Fuck you Steve!” he turns, grabbing Peter along the way and follows Tony out of the room and the joke called Avengers.

 

He leads Peter through the halls of the Compound, heading for Tony's workshop.

He is not sure what will be Tony’s state when they find him. Will he panic? Or will he close himself off again? This uncertainty if one of the reasons why he brought Peter along, Tones can never stay sad or angry for a long time when the teenager is present.

They find him in the lab, because of course they do. He is throwing stuff from one side to another, while the bots follow him like little ducklings follow their mother. It is unclear whether this is his poor attempt at packing or if he is just making a mess for the fun of it. Either way, Rhodey stops in front of the doors, gently knocking. For the first time since he stole the original War Machine suit, he is not sure whether he is welcome in Tony’s lab. His mind is replaying their last proper conversation over and over again. He was a right prick to his best friend and he would not be surprised if Tony wouldn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Tony waves them in distractedly. He is going through all the projects he is currently working on and there is a lot of them. He just wasn’t able to pick one and stay focused until it is finished lately, so the room is cluttered with half-finished prototypes.

“Hey Tony….”

That makes him look up, not the words but the tone of Rhodey’s voice. The man sounds unsure and hesitant, as if he is waiting for Tony to shout at him as he did with Steve.

“Hey Honey-bear, hey Munchkin! What-chya doing here?”

“Well, you looked kinda mad when you told Rogers to piss off so we are kinda checking on you?” Peter starts when Rhodey looks at him helplessly.

“Oh baby-boo, you said a bad word! I am your Dad now and you should not use that kind of language in front of me” Tony teases the boy, slowly approaching him.

“Baby-boo? That’s the best one you can do? And by the way, your swearing is million times worse than that!”

“Yeah, but I am an adult so I'm allowed to! You, my precious little baby muffin, are not and I simply must scold you! And do not roll your eyes at me young man!”

Of course Peter is unable to hold another eye roll back. In response Tony tries to poke his cheek, but Peter is fast and grabs his hand, making him pout.

Their staring contest is interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.

Stephen stands there awkwardly.

Tony whips around fast as a lightning, still unwilling to face the sorcerer and his feelings for him. He quickly grabs a half-finished prototype of new Stark tablet and starts to poke it, not even looking at what is he pressing. His attention is firmly on the pair behind his back.

Stephen came to remind Peter that it is a school day and if he wants to be at time, they need to go now.

Tony only half listens to Peter’s reply, more focused on Stephen, on how his deep voice makes goosebumps run over his back, on how just being near him causes a deep ache in his chest.

All he wants to do is to turn around, run towards the Sorcerer and never let him go again. He misses him, so so much, missing their discussions, the camaraderie between them, the small touches….

He does not trust himself in Stephen’s presence, he is a weak weak man and he know how easy it would be to fall again. He knows Stephen like the back of his hand, he would forgive him, he would just open his arms, no questions asked and that would be it. No more longing, no more sleepless nights imagining how good they would be together.

Tony must be strong, must fight against this temptation, because it is wrong! What they did was wrong and it can never ever happen again. He is not like that, he just can’t be!

 

Peter sees it all, the stiff line of Tony’s back, the hurt look in Stephen’s eyes and he knows he must do something about it. They are both so unhappy and it breaks his heart.

He has no clue why Tony refused Stephen, but he is certain it is not because he does not love him. He will find out the reason, he promises himself and he will get them together!

“Peter….” Right, not now, now it’s time for school.

“Coming!” he yells in Stephen’s direction and quickly hugs Tony from behind “I’m so glad you’re back Da...Tony...Dad” he giggles. It’s still so weird to call him Dad, it will take time getting used to it, but it makes him feel warmth in his belly and what is most important, it makes Tony happy, he can see it in his eyes.

Tony pats the hand wrapped around his chest “Me too, kiddo, me too. And now shoo, of to school with you.”

“I’ll call you when I’m done, ok?”

Tony just nods, feeling Peter’s hands slide off of him and listens as the familiar sound of Stephen’s portal disappears. Only then he allows his shoulders to sag.

He stands there for a while, face in his hands, fingers digging into his temples.

“Ugh, you okay Tones?”

“FUCK!” he spins around, scared half to death, holding a hand on his chest dramatically.

“Honey bunny! I completely forgot you are here! Don’t scare me like that!”

Rhodey chuckles at the dramatics and approaches his best friend. “You look like an old lady, clutching your pearls like that” he teases.

Tony pouts, but does not object, he is looking at the soldier suddenly unsure of what to say to him.

The smile slips off of Rhodey’s face, the memory of their conversation right before Tony got de-aged haunted him for weeks, he would do anything to turn back time, to take back those stupid words. He doesn’t even know why he said it, it is not like he believed that Tony was playing victim, no he was a victim.

He grabs his hand and pulls him towards the couch. He smiles at the bots, who dutifully follow them and are circle around the couch, listening as well.

He takes a deep breath and looks at his brother in everything but blood “Tony… I was a right fucking asshole to you.” He can see his eyebrows shot up in surprise, but the man does not say a word, a testament to how wounded he was by Rhodey’s behaviour. “I mean, I was suppose to be on your side and not yell at you because you did not want to play with Rogers and his band of fuck ups, I don’t even know why I said those things! You never played a victim! You were one and my job was to protect you!”

“I can protect myself! It is not your job!” Tony retorts angrily. Part of it is the pain that lingers from the accusation, but part of it is also pride. He is an adult and not a small child! He is fully capable of protecting himself, he never relied on anyone before, he does not need their pity!

“I know, I know you are fully capable of protecting yourself!” Rhodey tries to ease that anger “hell Tony you protected us all million times with or without help. I’m not questioning whether you can! What I’m saying is, that you’re my best friend, my brother and I abandoned you when you needed me. I should stand by your side, just like you did for me before! That’s what friends are for!”

He can see the anger ease a little bit in Tony’s eyes, but there is still distrust. He can accept that, he betrayed the trust Tony had in him for years, he was careless with his best friend and one sorry won’t make it right. With Tony, actions always speak more loudly than words. But Rhodey is prepared, he will show Tony he can be trusted, he will gain his trust back whatever it takes.

“If I am your best friend then what is Wilson? You two seem to be joined at the hip lately.”

“Wilson? Sam? He… is my friend, I’m not gonna deny it. He and I have a lot in common.”

“We have a lot in common!” Tony jumps out of the couch, striding agitatedly through the workshop and starts throwing stuff around again.

“We do Tony, but…. He and I, we are both soldiers, just regular guys and all we have are flimsy flying suits and we hope to match you, heroes. It can be… difficult, not to feel useless.” he admits quietly, he never talked about how being part of the Avengers makes him feel. Nothing he had contributed came from himself, all he has is a flying suit of armor he stole from his best friend, he is not special, gifted or anything really and sometimes that feeling got to be too much.

“And I am what? A god? The Hulk? I am ‘just a man’ in a suit too!”

“Just a man? You, the Tony Stark?”

“Oh, come….” he turns angrily, now again facing Rhodey who did not move from the couch.

“NO! Let me finish! Tony, you are the strongest, most brave brilliant man I have ever met….ah no, no interrupting, let me speak” he pleads when he sees Tony wants to object “It is not even your brilliant mind, which let me tell you is worth more than 10 Super Soldiers together, no it is you, who you are. You’re what made Avengers Avengers, your dedication, your sacrifice! The only reason why this project did not end right after you shipped Loki’s skinny ass back to Asgard for the first time, was because you stepped in! Do not try to deny it! You funded them, build them better armors, covered the media campaign and talked with those pompous assholes we call the Government and you convinced them all that Avengers are needed, that they are important! And you did the same when Rogers went batshit once he found his precious murder darling! Don’t you see? You are it! You are the Avengers!”

Tony is just standing there, mouth slightly agape and tears in his eyes.

Rhodey leaves the couch, slowly approaching him, as if he is a skittish animal, easily frightened. As if he thinks he will bolt if the soldier moves too fast. “I know, that you don’t feel that way and that is on us, we should have made sure you know how much you mean to us, I should have made sure. We broke your trust and for that I am deeply sorry. I’m not asking for forgiveness, I know I do not deserve it, but I promise you! I promise, that I will do anything in my powers to gain your trust back, to show you that you can rely on me again, that we can be brothers as we once were.”

What can he say to that? He wouldn’t able to say anything even if he wanted to, his throat squeezed by the onslaught of tears and emotions. So he opens his arms, slowly, but surely and Rhodey does not hesitate, he steps right towards him, hugging him close and hiding his face in Tony’s neck. They both pretend not to feel the hot tears wetting their necks.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAGICAL LINE OF 1000 KUDOS REACHED! WOW! O.O

Tony moves back to the Tower and Rhodey with him. It’s been days and he finally stopped worrying about Rogers getting in and trying to convince him to move back. Mainly because he tried it twice already, but couldn't get through the security and FRIDAY, Tony's girl trapping him in an elevator for four hours when he managed to avoid the human guards.

Tony is not naive, he knows that he will have to face him one day, but not now and not on Steve’s terms.

He is honestly surprised that Rogers didn’t come again, but there is probably someone who stopped him from coming, probably that Murder muffin of his, God knows he wouldn’t listen to anyone else.

What Tony worries about these days is the ever growing group that just ‘came for a visit’ and then never left.

First was Bruce, who showed up mere hours after Tony and Rhodey arrived. Tony would be happy to have him, they talked a lot and even if their relationship was not what it used to be, it was on its way there. The problem was his Baby Mama, who naturally tagged along.

Said Baby Mama decided, that he doesn’t like the floor meant for Bruce and instead spends most of his days in Tony’s penthouse, eating for four and randomly changing color of furniture to green just for shit and giggles.

And of course where Loki goes, Thor follows and not just Thor, but also Heimdall and Hella, who just can’t leave her ‘precious darling’ alone.

And so it happens, that instead of living a quiet, peaceful life full of science time and awesome explosions as he imagined, Tony is stuck with four Asgardians and thanks God everyday for being a billionaire, otherwise he would be broke after two days just from the amount of food they need to keep them going, not to mention the times when something, usually Thor, pisses off Loki or Hella and shit starts flying. For example there is a new big hole in the wall between the living room and kitchen, courtesy of Thor, who foolishly tried to call Hella Grandma.

Everybody is constantly in the penthouse, yelling, fighting and arguing and Tony is going nuts. He tried to close himself in the lab, just focus on his inventions, but the lab is bringing memories of Stephen and he just can’t. So he is stuck with the Asgardians, or with Pep, who was delighted to hear he is back and out of the Avengers, expecting him to take much bigger share in the running of the Company.

Honestly, it has been just 4 days and he is ready for a vacation.

So it is natural that one day he just flips out. He shuffles out of his bedroom, still half asleep and heads for the coffeemaker.

His brain is not fully online yet, so it takes a while to realize that where once was his 5 thousand dollars worth, state of art coffee maker is now only black charred hole. He stares at it dumbly, feeling like he might cry.

He looks at his ‘visitors’, Thor is explaining something to Heimdall, waving that big ass axe around, just barely avoiding the Pollock painting behind him, Hella is ignoring them, flipping channels quicker than anyone who is not a god can see. Tony zeroes on Loki, who lies on the sofa with Bruce curled around him like a giant koala bear, watching him with expectant expression.

“BRUCE!!!” he shouts as loud as he can.

That was a mistake, all the Asgardians startle and with explosion of colorful lights turn their clothes into an armor, ready to fight in a second. Bruce is barely able to stave Hella’s hand, prepared to throw a dagger Tony’s way. He knew this was coming, Tony is usually easygoing fella, but touch his coffee and shit goes down. He extricates himself from Loki’s embrace, kissing him to erase the pout he sports now.

“Easy Tony, there is no reason to yell.”

“No reason? NO REASON?!” if Tony would be in his full mind, he would be ashamed of the high pitch his voice just reached.

“There was an accident with the coffee machine, but don’t worry, Rhodey went to get you some.”

“WHAT KIND OF ACCIDENT? IT IS COMPLETELY GONE! MY BABY!”

“The machine was his child? I thought mortals look the same as children.”

Bruce decides to ignore that stupid question, his focus is on Tony, who still looks on the verge of crying. “FRI? When is Rhodes back?”

“ETA 6 minutes, Dr. Banner.”

“Thank you” Bruce approaches his friend, slowly as if he is some skittish animal and manages to catch one of the flying limbs as Tony continues to rant. He pulls him towards one of the empty chairs, pushing him in. “Shhh, Tony, shhh. Your coffee will be here in a minute or two, I promise.”

“But I want it now!” Bruce cannot hold back smile, Tony’s voice and pout remind him of the small boy they had just a week ago.

“I know sweetie, it will be here before you know it. How about some blueberry pancakes while we wait?”

Tony glares at him, he knows he is acting unreasonably and Bruce is trying to appease him, but to hell with it! It works! “Okay” he nods graciously, but you must tell me what happened!”

“Of course, but let me get the pancakes first.”

Tony watches him, curious where he wants to find any pancakes, the cupboards and the fridge are almost constantly empty now, unless someone went shopping he won’t find anything there.

But Bruce doesn’t head towards the kitchen, he approaches Loki, still laying on the couch and obviously ignoring him.

“Love….”

“No.”

“Come ooon, for me?”

“I don’t want to!”

Bruce is not to be deterred, this is one of Loki’s favorite games, he pretends like he does not give a shit, but all he wants is for Bruce to beg. He straddles his waist, leaning down until their noses are touching. “Pleaaaase my love” he gently bites the high cheekbone. “I would be sooo sooo grateful, we could do anything you want afterwards.”

“Anything?”

“Yes, anything. I would be completely yours.”

That was a mistake, Loki’s eyes squint dangerously “You already are mine!” the god growls.

“Of course I am, there is no one, can be no one after you.” Bruce starts to kiss down his neck to appease him. “But imagine it, for a whole day I would follow your every order. Wouldn’t it be fun?”

“For a week!”

“No, just a day.”

“Two days and you will wear only what I’ll give you!”

“Deal.” Bruce seals his agreement with a deep kiss. Loki still glares, but waves a hand and the table is suddenly stacked with plates full of perfect golden pancakes.

“YOU CAN MAKE FOOD?! WHAT ARE YOU EATING ME OUT FOR IF YOU CAN MAKE FREAKING MAGIC FOOD!”

“Mortals” Loki scoffs derisively “Just because I can, doesn’t mean I’m going to feed them every day, I am not a cook.”

“But… But…”

“Just take the pancakes Tony.” Bruce hands him a plate quickly, while Thor merrily plops himself to the ground and pulls three full plates towards himself. “My brother can make the best food, but he never does when I ask him” he says with mouth already full.

“I’m not wasting my gift just to feed your big mouth!”

Tony wants to ask more questions, like where did the food come from? Did he create it from nothing? Or just stole it from someone else? But he sees Bruce shaking his head and decides he has more important question. “So who blasted my coffee machine?”

“Egh, it was Hella? She got scared…”

“I was not scared you useless mortal! Death is not afraid of anything! It attacked me and I fought back! I won gloriously of course!”

Bruce decides not to react and continues “The machine started hissing, it was cleaning itself right when she was next to it and she… reacted. I’m sorry, but FRIDAY already ordered a new one, it will be here in the afternoon.” he tries to say as cheerily as possible, despite Tony’s continuous glaring.

He is saved from further discussion by Rhodey, who finally brings Tony his coffee and the genius jumps from the chair and runs to him at the speed of light.

 

It’s twenty minutes later, all pancakes are gone and Tony is finally sufficiently caffeinated, when Pepper storms in. He tries to hide behind Thor’s bulk, but for once, it is not he she is mad at.

“Dr. Banner! How could you?”

“...What?” Bruce is confused, he was dozing slightly until Pepper’s shout woke him up and is not entirely sure what is happening.

Tony, after assuring himself he is not the primary target of her ire this time, finds the courage to step out from behind his asgardian shield “Hey Pep! What’s going on?”

“What’s going on? He betrayed us!” she points towards Bruce angrily.

Bruce wants to ask her what she means, because he did not do it, he would never, but his path is blocked by Loki in full battle armor, horns and all, glaring daggers at Tony’s CEO. “Watch your mouth woman, or I’ll cut out your tongue!” He rolls his eyes, because really? It’s not as if he is a damsel in distress in need of saving by his man, he is the freaking Hulk! Annoyed, he pushes him away to face her “Pepper, I swear, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I did not betray Tony, I would never!” he looks pleadingly towards the scientist, batting away Loki’s attempt at pushing him back behind his back. It breaks his heart that Tony looks unsure, he is not angry, he knows Tony has enough reasons to be distrustful, he is just disappointed.

“Are you going to tell me that you didn’t send the workings of the ARCreactor to Princess Shuri of Wakanda?”

“What? Yeah, I did.” he admits freely “But how is that a betrayal?” he asks confused, that’s what they agreed on doing.

“You did WHAT?” now Tony is angry too “Are you crazy? Those fuckers were trying to get hold of it for years!” He turns to Pepper sharply “Tell me you stopped it, tell me they do not have my baby!”

“Of course we stopped it. FRIDAY did it actually.”

“Oh, baby girl thank you, thank you, thank you! Daddy is so proud!”

“No problem Boss” there is a definitely pleased undertone in her voice.

“Tony… I don’t understand. Why can’t they have it?”

“For years the Wakandians tried to get my tech, they tried almost anything, threats and such, there were even attempts at corporate espionage. They hate Starks, claiming that my Father stole the Vibranium for Rogers’ stupid frisbee from them. I have no idea if it is the truth or not and I honestly do not care. What I can’t forget is their King, T’challa siding with Rogers and hiding him in Wakanda for years, what I can’t forget that he was there, in Siberia, when Rogers and Barnes left and left me there just like them, not bothering to check up on me or maybe he did check and let me to die there. So there will be absolutely no cooperation between Wakandians and the Stark Industry never ever ever!”

Bruce is horrified, he didn’t know of T’challa’s involvement in Siberia, he didn’t show up on the armor’s camera. And he had absolutely no idea of the bad blood between Starks and Wakanda. “I am so sorry Tony, I didn’t know. Please forgive me, I would never betray you like that!”

There is still wariness and distrust in those whiskey brown eyes “But I don’t get it, why would you do that?”

“It was for Viz…. Don’t you remember what happened after Wanda attacked you?” he asks carefully.

Tony thinks about it, shuffles through the fogged memories of when he was de-aged, he remembers the instinctual fear he felt when he saw her for the first time, he remembers the hateful words of his Father, Stephen’s embrace….

“If I may interrupt Boss, you were not present when cooperation with Wakanda was discussed, you were with Peter in the lab, but I can show you a recording.”

Tony nods gratefully. He hates to think about the memories he has of his de-aged period, they bring too much uncertainty and painful memories.

The TV switches from the game show Hella was watching half heartedly to a feed from one of FRI’s compound cameras.

 

_ “Evolutionary, your brain is blocked, because your bodies are not able to process all that it is capable off. I guess this one was lucky when they removed that block. I think most mortal bodies would wither.” the Loki on the TV is saying. _

_ “The Mind Stone in the Scepter was able to remove that barrier, that doesn’t mean that it cannot be restored.” He turns to Vision “You have the Stone and therefore the ability to do it.” _

_ “And what would happen to her after?” _

_ “If you do it right, she should go back to normal Midgardian, well as normal as she was before allowing someone to experiment on her.” _

_ “And if I mess up?” _

_ “Honestly, I don’t know.” _

_ “There truly isn’t any other way?” asks Bruce.  _

“ _ The only way I’m sure should work. But… _ .”

_ “But?” Viz’ head flies up, eyes full of hope. _

_ “During the… my time in New York, I tried to take control over Iron Man, but it didn’t work. He somehow resisted the control, but I do not know how.” _

_ “What you’re saying is that something in Tony’s reactor might work as some sort of nullifier on the Stone effects. At least something. Vision, you need to work with the Stone, I don’t care if you use hamsters, puppies or freaking cows, we can’t let her keep the powers, just… please do not let any mutant cows run free? And Bruce? Maybe you could reach out to Princess Shuri and you could have a look at the reactor?” _

 

“So it was Stephen? And he is holding that bitch at Kamar-Taj?” Tony asks angrily when the video feed cuts off and the TV screen returns to Hella’s show.

“I'm sure he meant no harm Tony” Bruce tries to calm him. “He was just looking out for Viz, I’m sure he was not aware of your relationship with the Wakanda….”

“Oh, he was! What was he thinking, that moron!” he grabs the closest Stark-phone, not even thinking about not calling to Stephen. He paces in front of the kitchen counter The phone rings and rings, but the coward does not answer.

“Argh!” he ends the call, almost poking a hole in the screen and calls Wong.

“Hello, this is Wong” a calm, collected voice answers.

“Where is he?” Tony is not proud of his tone, but he is simply unable to calm down.

“Who is this?”

“Come on Wong! Do not play with me right now! Where is Stephen?!”

“Good morning to you too Mr. Stark” Wong continues in his fucking zen tone “Stephen is currently in Kamar-Taj.”

“I need to see him, will you take me there?”

“Sure, why not?” his answer surprises Tony. He though he will have to fight him, isn't Kamaj-taj suppose to be some super secret hideout, where no mere mortals can enter?

It is, of course it is, but Wong has enough of his friend's moping and hopes that when they meet, things will get better. If he has to bend a rule or two? Well, that's a risk he is willing to take.

What he did not count on were two very curious Asgardians (Loki and Hella of course) and overprotective friends who refused to stay behind. And so it happens, that after centuries of seclusion, Kamaj-taj is invaded by two small angry scientists and their group of protectors.

 

Stephen feels the disturbance in the shield the moment they get in. He is not sure who or what it is, but he quickly jumps up and runs to investigate. He is not the only one, the halls are full of masters and acolytes rushing towards the main plaza.

He should have known. Who else would be able to get here? He thinks the moment he sees Loki and his crazy mother. He is honestly shocked it took them so long. “What are you doing here?” he yells enraged, rushing forward.

He almost slips in surprise when another voice interrupts him “We wouldn't have to come if you'd just pick up your damn phone you asshole!”

Tony?

It's him!

Stephen barely registers smirking Wong and the others behind him, his eyes locked only on his beautiful love.

Oh and how beautiful he looks, standing there only in a tank top and soft sleeping pants, muscled arms and chest on display, like he stepped straight from Stephen's dream.

“Tony” it's more of a sigh than a greeting. He can’t hold the stupid smile off of his face, his mind forgetting for a moment that he ruined their relationship, all it sees is the love of his life finally with him, where he belongs.

He is torn out of his reverie by Tony storming towards him and poking him in his chest, hard.

“Why did you give my tech to Wakanda?!”

“Wh… what?”

“You told Bruce to give them my reactor! Don’t pretend you didn’t!” each word is punctuated by a sharp jab into his sternum.

“Au! Can you not!” he grabs his finger. “Yes, I did and I did it for you, you moron!”

“Yeah, sure for me! You gave my biggest achievement to my enemies all for my own good!”

“Yes, I did! What other reason would I have? Did you even think before storming here like a drama queen and accusing me in front of everyone?!”

No, he did not, but now it’s too late to back off, so he just rips out his finger still clutched in the other man's hand and grudgingly concedes “Okay, you have your benefit of doubt, tell me why you did it.”

“Loki told us that Vision can restore a barrier in the Witch’s mind and get rid of her powers, basically return her back to her human form, but he doesn’t know how.”

“Yeah, yeah I know that, speed up” Tony says, honestly just to be contrary. For some reason he was never able to stay mad at Stephen for too long and he us trying to hide it. It is getting harder and harder to remember to be mad at him when all he wants to do is to… Stop! No! Bad brain, we are not going there!

Stephen glares at him adorably, but continues “Well Viz was terrified, you know he loves her and was afraid he would hurt her, so we looked for a different alternative. Your reactor stopped Loki's scepter before! The same scepter that contained the Mind Stone, we had to at least try!”

Tony still glares and so the sorcerer continues, exasperated “Tony, I know how you think of Vision, I know you'd do anything to help him, even work with Wakanda….”

Pepper snorts disdainfully behind his back and Tony suddenly realizes their audience, there are dozens of sorcerers surrounding them, listening to their every word, watching how he makes a fool of himself.

“Okay” he mumbles, suddenly at loss what to do next.

“Am I forgiven?” Stephen asks in a teasing tone, stepping little bit closer and trying to catch Tony’s eyes.

Tony just nods, he feels like a proper dick, coming here and yelling at him in front of everyone. Stephen was right, he would share his invention with Wakanda if he knew there was even a slight chance it could help Jarvis’ son…. But it wouldn't. He knew it wouldn't, because he did his own experiments after New York, he tried to figure out why the scepter did not work on him. But Stephen did not know that and as he said, he was just looking out for Tony like always. 

But a question remains… What now?

“Sooo Vision is training to help her?” he asks meekly, apologetic.

“Yes, he locked himself in the library. He still has 3 to 5 days, I'm afraid we won’t be able to hold her for longer than that.”

“Okay” he repeats “well, FRIDAY was able to stop the email before it reached Wakanda, so no harm done. I guess we will return back to the Tower now….”

Stephen is disappointed, he was so excited to see Tony here, he always wanted to show him Kamaj-Taj. “You're sure you can’t stay longer? I could give you a tour if you want or we could go and visit Vision. I’m sure he will be glad to see you.”

Tony is tempted, so sooo tempted, but staying would mean to be in Stephen's presence much longer and he is not sure whether he can endure it without doing something stupid.

A warm hand settles on his shoulder, the sorcerer looking into his eyes imploringly “Please Tony, stay.”

“Ehm” he turns to his companions, shaking off his hand subtly “What do you guys think?”

“I would like to see the famous Kamaj-Taj” Bruce smiles at him. “And I'm sure the others would too, right love?” he turns to Loki standing next to him, well where he stood a minute ago. “Loki? Where are you?” he starts to look around confusedly. “He was here, I swear! What did you do to him?!”

Oh, oh, Bruce is getting angry, Tony can already see the green flicker in his eyes when he glares at Stephen. He quickly wraps his arms around Bruce’s neck, disregarding the terrified gasps all around.

“Shhh Bruce, shh. I’m sure he is okay… ehm… sun is getting low?” he asks teasingly, but all it earns him is a deathglare. “Okay, lets not let our tempers get better of us, right buddy? We’re smart, we need to use our brain!”

That gets him a small smile and the lines that appeared on Bruce’s neck after Tony’s unfortunate joke, start slowly receding.

Stephen, who almost got a heart attack when Tony hugged Bruce almost mid-change, approaches them “I assure you no one took him. It is Loki afterall, I’m sure he sneaked off somewhere, also your future mother-in-law is gone as well.”

“SHIT!”

Stephen quickly delves into the Sanctum’s magic, looking for a dissonance. All the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj are aggravated by the sudden visitors and their lack of respect for their tradition, but he already knew that, so he stretches his senses beyond the crowd gathered on the main plaza and searches further. He can feel the magic of Vision’s stone, so similar and yet so different from his Eye of Agamotto…, he feels Wanda, her magic muted under the spell, but still clearly distinguishable, but still no sign of Loki and Hella. Did they leave? No, they would not leave Bruce behind….

He can feel a slight pressure in his head, like something is trying to get inside, but not barging in, more like mentally knocking. It is a strange feeling he did not feel for a long long time, ever since the Ancient One was alive and so he is curious. He opens his mental door, just the smallest possible increment, but it is not the Ancient One, nor Loki, it is Vision.

_ “Doctor, this is Vision. Can you hear me? This is the first time I’m using this on way of communication on someone else than Wanda….” _

_ “Yes, I can hear you. What is going on?” _

_ “I feel a presence in the library, there is someone here with me, someone invisible. I thought you’d like to know. Some books are disappearing.” _

_ “Crap! I should have known! Thank you Vision. I will take care of them.” _

_ “So you know who they are? May I help you comprehend them?” _

_ “Yes, it is Loki with Hella. I should be able to handle them, but please stay near in case of emergency.” _

_ “Of course, doctor.” _

 

“That fucker is stealing my books! I’m gonna skin him!” Stephen quickly grabs Tony’s hands and runs towards the library, not caring who else follows. He blasts the door down the moment he sees them.

“Fheeew, couldn’t you just freaking portal us? I’m too old for running this early in the morning!” Stephen ignores Tony’s bitching (although never releasing his hand) and instead spreads his senses, trying to locate the thieves.

“Loki! Hella! Reveal yourself or I will blast you to the Dark dimension!” he threatened.

“You will do no such thing! He is pregnant you idiot! I won’t let you endanger him!” Bruce gasps out of breath, he is no runner either, but he bravely takes a big gulp of air and screams “Loki! Come here, right now!”

Loki walks out from the labyrinth of shelves, unperturbed. “This is a library, you should keep quiet.” he admonishes, as if it is their fault they are all here.

“Yes! This is a library! A very secret library, forbidden to anyone who isn’t a master or a pupil of Kamar-Taj!”

“And yet you brought Stark with you. Why should he be an exception? Is it because you want to have intercourse with him?”

Horrified gasps from both Tony and Stephen are overshadowed by Bruce’s giggling. He approaches Loki, wrapping his arms around his waist “That was a good one, love” the praise earns him a kiss “but you can’t disappear on me like that! I almost hulked out!.”

“Apologies my darling, but I could not stay there any longer, the way they were mooning over each other was sickening and Mother suggested that we could at least use the time to explore their magic a bit.”

“Yeah, this library is not half bad for mortals” Hella’s voice comes from behind the shelves “it cannot measure to Asgard or Alfheim of course, but there are some interesting pieces here.”

“Yeah! And you will return them back, right now! The books won’t leave Kamar-Taj!”

“We don’t have your primitive tomes, we were merely looking.” Loki says scornfully.

“Shut it, God of Lies, I know you are lying!”

For a second he looks like he might argue, but at the end he just rolls his eyes, makes a complicated wave with his hand and a stack of books appear in his arms.

“I knew it! Give them to me!”

Loki just rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed “Okay, you can take them, they are on a very base level anyway, nothing that Mother and I already don’t know.” he hands them to Stephen, who almost keels over from their weight.

“Sure, sure.” he says mockingly and is gratified when Loki’s eyes squint angrily.

“Can we go now?” Tony pipes up, interrupting their staring contest, his hand is still grasped by Stephen’s slightly shaky one and it’s getting kind of awkward. He should never come here, he made a fool of himself and made Stephen believe that there is a chance that there still can be something between them, which is impossible… totally,… because Tony doesn’t love him … no, not at all! He needs to get away, right now!

“Weeell, this trip was all nice and stuff, but we should head home, I have work to do… eeeh important work, meeting, work meeting….” he knows he babbles, but he tried to pull his hand out off of Stephen’s several times without success. “So Brucie, collect your homicidal maniacs and lets go!”

“You shouldn’t leave yet Tony!” Stephen says little desperately. He is not proud of his tone, of almost pleading, but he is afraid that once Tony leaves, he won’t see him for weeks, maybe months! And he is honestly tired of cry-wanking over his google pictures, they have nothing on ‘the real deal’. “You didn’t see much yet. Kamar-Taj is big! I can give you a tour, just us….”

“Yeah, private tour of his bedroom” Bruce whispers to Loki, who nods in agreement.

“I... eghr… I don’t think it is a good idea Stephen… I have that thing, egh meeting.” Tony tries to find a reason why he needs to leave immediately.

“That’s fine Tony! You can stay and  **enjoy** Kamar-taj and all it has to offer. Rhodey and I will go instead of you!” the cheery voice of Pepper Potts interrupts his lame excuse. “I’m sure Wong won’t mind portaling us home and you can hitch a ride with Stephen!” she doesn’t give him time to answer, but sharply turns “Bruce! Don’t you have that time sensitive experiment running?” That is a big, fat lie and everyone present knows it, but that does not keep them from playing along “You are right!” Bruce nods, with particularly fake cheer “Loki! Hella! I will need your assistance, let’s go!”

 

Tony isn’t sure what just happened, one minute Stephen almost fights with two asgardian gods about a book, in the next one, he is alone with Stephen. And they are still holding hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping to finish the story by the time Endgame comes, I'm not sure if I will have enough mental strength to finish it afterwards.  
> Honestly, I was never so afraid going to see a movie as I am with Endgame :/


	24. Chapter 24

Stephen could kiss Pepper Potts. Don’t take him wrong, he still hates her guts and would not regret it if neither he, nor Tony didn’t see her ever again, but the fact is, that without her intervention Tony would be back in New York and Stephen, well… he would be probably in his room, imagining how he would rip that tank top off of Tony’s chest, with his teeth.

He is tempted to do it even now, but Tony would certainly freak out and run away. He looks half panicked, standing there and subtly trying to rip his hand out of Stephen’s. Stephen doesn’t let go yet, first acknowledging his attempt by raising his hand towards his lips and slowly… very, very slowly kissing it.

It is so adorable how red can Tony’s ears get. The famous playboy, bashful from just one small kiss. Stephen’s head is spinning with glee. But he can see how uncomfortable the shorter man is and he doesn’t want that. He loves him and wants him to be happy, even if they won’t be together. Stephen didn’t lose hope, not yet, he just can’t live without Tony and if they can’t be lovers, he will do with friends, at least for now. Therefore he decided that he needs to earn Tony’s trust back and that means no attempts at kissing him, no pressing questions and unfortunately no hand holding. Reluctantly, he lets his hand go.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable” he says sincerely and he means it, not just the handholding, but the whole debacle with their first kiss. “You don’t know how glad I am to have you here and as an adult! You were an adorable kid, but I missed you, the real you.” He can’t look him in the eyes while confessing that, it is just too hard to bear, so he looks down, letting his fringe cover at least part of his face as he continues. “I… I consider you my best friend and I am really sorry for ruining our friendship. So fucking sorry Tony.” he braves a quick look on Tony’s face, it squeezes his hard to see his saddened expression.

“Stephen….”

“Please Tony, please give me one more chance, I promise…” he starts urgently, but is stopped when a warm calloused hand squeezes his.

“Please stop.” Tony beggs quietly “It wasn’t… I… I reacted badly. I shouldn’t just cut you off, I should have…” he sighs heavily and rubs a palm over his face. “I am just so fucking confused! I needed time to think, to process what happened! You are my friend Stephen and I don’t want to lose you, but I can’t! I can’t be what you want me to be! I can’t do that!” his breathing is speeding up, voice getting a panicked lilt and Stephen is so ashamed for causing it. Tony trusted him, trusted to be on his side and what did he do? He thought only of himself, of what he wanted, of his love…. He never looked at it from Tony’s perspective, from a perspective of a man who was betrayed by those he though his family so many times, who had people throwing themselves at him all his life.

He tries to calm him “I know Tony, I know. And I promise it won’t happen again unless” he blushes slightly and finishes lamely “unless it is you who wants to.”

Tony can’t hold a smile back, Stephen always acts like this badass doctor/sorcerer who always knows what to do, but sometime, when it is just the two of them, he is like an overgrown puppy. And Tony loves… NO! he does not love him! He can’t! Because he is not gay! Nope, no gay feelings here, never ever.

He cannot give him what he wants, but he also doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, he wants to be his friend, to have that easy camaraderie they had, the one that he used to have with Rhodey and with Bruce.

“Thank you Stephen. It means a lot to me that you understand.”

They stand there awkwardly staring at each other, both unsure what to do next. Tony never could stand long silence, it makes his skin itch and so he takes a big breath and bravely offers “So you wanted to show me your Kamar-Taj right?”

 

Pepper, Rhodey, Bruce, Loki and Hella return to the Tower. The moment the portal closes behind them, they can all feel slight vibration, as if the whole Tower moved a little bit to the left.

“What the hell was that? FRI?” Rhodey is the first to ask.

“King Thor and Heimdall decided to spar, they are in the training room.” the A.I. explains.

“Are they nuts?! They will destroy the Tower!”

“I ran tests based on analysis we did with BOSS a while ago and I can confirm that the Tower will withstand it, however the employees working on lower floor find it very disconcerting, especially those working in R&D as it messes with their concentration. I requested from them to cease their fight, but King Thor was very insistent.” FRIDAY’s voice sounds very put out.

Rhodey rolls his eyes, annoyed “So who wants to go down and stop them? Or do we solve it like adults?” he starts to hit his closed fist against the palm of his other hand.

“What is he doing?” Loki and Hella watch him with matching expressions of confusion.

Bruce laughs “It’s called rock-paper-scissors and it is a game of chance” he quickly explains the rules.

“And you’re saying this is how midgardian adults solve their dilemmas? Pathetic” Hella sneers “I will not be part of such foolishness. I will find them and show them how a true warrior fights.” She starts to turn towards an elevator.

“Please go with them to the minus 6th floor, it is reinforced to withhold the Hulk, you can fight there and there will be no danger or vibration” Bruce instructs “I hope” he adds, almost like an afterthought.

Hella leaves quickly after that, she is eager to kick her little brother’s ass again. The fight on the Rainbow bridge did not end that well for her, even though it was not because of Thor himself. And little brothers need a good, regular ass-kicking especially such hot-headed fools like her brother.

Pepper and Rhodey disappear soon after, neither one of them willing to risk to be caught in the collapse of the building when the asgardians step over the line.

And that, finally, leaves Bruce alone with Loki.

“Take of your clothes darling. Slowly” Loki commands the moment the elevator door closes.

“Wha…? It’s a middle of the day! Anyone can walk in!”

“It never bothered you before, so don’t play coy now. You are my slave and I want you naked, now!”

“But… but I didn’t think you want to start now!”

“Why not?” Loki is genuinely confused. They had an agreement, if Loki provides sustenance this morning, Bruce will be his personal slave for 2 days. “Promise is a promise darling.”

“Yes, I’m not saying I won’t do it, just… not now? Can we postpone? Please? Like till tomorrow or something?”

Did Bruce change his mind? Does he find the thought repulsive?

The god steps forward, catching the small scientist in a big hug and plants kisses into his hair “Shhh my darling, if you don’t want to do that we don’t have to.”

“It’s not that! It’s… it’s TONY!”

“What has Stark to do with what we do in our bedchamber?” the Jotunn asks suspiciously, his voice taking low, slightly dangerous lilt.

“Cut the crap with the jealousy! Can you?” Bruce throws his arms into the air, exasperated. “It is honestly getting offensive! You act like I want to fuck everyone in hundred miles radius the moment you turn your back at me! That’s not fair! I don’t want to FUCK him, you understand?! I am worried about him!” his skin is getting a slight green tinge and he needs to fight really hard to push the anger (and Hulk) back down and Loki’s dumb ‘deer in the headlights’ expression is not helping much to calm him. “We left him there, what if he can’t find his way back? It’s in freaking Asia, the other side of the Earth! Or what if they argue and Stephen does something to him?”

Loki just watches him babble more and more, his eyebrows steadily raising. He uses the small gap in Bruce’s rant (he needed to stop to take a breath) and tries to calm hm.

“The Sorcerer would never hurt him, he loves him. Everybody knows that.”

“Yes, but loving someone and not hurting them are two very separate things, he is kind of a dick.”

Loki sighs and gently pets his hotheaded love “You worry too much, he is not a small child anymore. He is a warrior, strong one and smart. I don’t believe that Strange would be able to keep him there if he didn’t want to stay. Plus he is not alone, there are hundreds of Sorcerers in there as well as the android.”

“Vision was there? I did not see him.”

“Yes, he was in the library. He will make sure no one hurts Stark.”

Bruce nods, the tension in his shoulders finally releases a little, he trusts Vision around Tony, he has enough of JARVIS in him to be protective of the genius.

“Okay, you’re right, Tony will be fine, but still… can we keep it for tomorrow?”

Loki rolls his eyes, but obediently plops himself into ‘his place’ on the sofa and materializes a book.

“Hey! Isn’t it one of Stephen’s books? He will be pissed you stole it!”

“This book does not belong to that moron.”

“It looks awfully like the one he had”

Loki sniffs “He said the books can’t leave the library, he never said anything about making my own copies.”

Bruce just rolls his eyes and plops himself into Loki’s lap, wanting to see the secret magic book as well.

 

Two small rolled papers hit the tables of MJ and Ned almost at the same time. Both notes contain the same message in horrible, wiggly handwriting:

 

**_SUPER SECRET MISSION!!! HELP!!!! Meet in 2B.26 after last class._ **

 

  * **_**_Pete_**_**



 

 

They pester him during breaks, unable to keep their curiosity at bay, but he stays unusually tight-lipped. Needless to say they both run towards the agreed room the moment the last bell rings. Well, MJ doesn’t run, she has an image to keep up, but Ned doesn’t care.

He bursts into the room at break-neck speed, but no one is there yet. Well, at least he has time to catch his breath and sit down.

MJ swims in just a minute later, much more gracefully.

Peter finally arrives, 10 minutes later, babbling about how Mr. Thompson held him back after the class.

“Who cares about stupid Mr. Thompson! Tell us the SECRET!” Ned almost vibrates in his seat. He is sure that it is a mission from Avengers and he is so, sooo ready!

“Yeah, well, yeah, I will… I mean, I need” he flails around, looking from all things like a deranged stork who just discovered he has wings.

MJ rolls her eyes, hard. “Calm down and sit down Peter!” really, how would these two do anything without her? She is the only one normal here.

Peter instantly follows, he plops down on a chair in front of them, looking little bit at loss what to do next.

“Deep breath and then you can start.” she adds when he does not say a word.

Peter again follows, he takes a deep breath, then second and third and then starts: “Before I tell you anything I need you to do two things. First, you need to promise you’ll never ever never tell anyone about what I’m gonna tell you, you can’t even write about it anywhere, not even in our chat!”   
“WHY?! But! But what if we’re in court? Or what if someone gets into our brain and will read our minds? Or what if….”

“STOP! For god sake stop Ned. I promise you no one will ask about this in a court and if someone will read your mind, well, there is nothing you can do against it.”

“Well, there could be you know, like the helmet Magneto…”

“GUYS!” MJ has to stop them, if they start discussing mind reading mutants right now she will never find out what the hell is going on! “What is the other thing you need us to do?” she reminds them.

“Right, yes, you MUST turn off your phones before we say anything and not just turn them into flight mode, turn them off completely, take out the battery.” And he promptly starts to fiddle with his phone, taking out the battery just like he said.

His friends just watch him like the madman he is.

“Come on guys, we don’t have the whole day!”

“But why do we need to do that? You know how hard it is to take off the cover of my phone.” Ned whines.

“So no one can listen to us obviously!”

“Who would want to listen in on a conversation of three highschoolers? Did you again read that conspiracy blog? I told you there is nothing like….” MJ starts, only to be rudely interrupted.

“No, no, NO! Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark can listen to our conversation, his A.I. can do it, I’m sure!”

“But why would he-”

“Just do it please! It will all make sense later.”

“Okay” they both grumble, but obediently start to dismantling their phones.

“Done!” Ned is the last to finish and starts to barrage his friend with questions the second the battery is out. “Is it the Avengers? What do they need? Is there another invasion coming? Are you going to Space again? Can I come with?” Peter can’t handle the onslaught, he is so overwhelmed that he can’t even think, just react. He jumps on top of his best friend, covering his mouth with his hand firmly. He can  **feel** MJ rolling her eyes again.

“NO! There is no invasion, this is not for the Avengers! Well, it is… but.”

Ned rips his head back, dislodging Peter’s hand “So what it is?! Tell us already!”

Peter nods few times and climbs down off of Ned. “I need you to help me put Tony and Dr. Strange together.”

A deafening silence.

“You… what?” MJ asks weakly. She heard him wrong, she must have. All this crap could not be for something like that.

“I want to set up Tony and Dr. Strange together, like together together.”

They both look at him as if he just announced that he wants to marry Flash.

“Really guys, they love each other. I don’t know why, but Tony refused Stephen and they are both soo unhappy! Will you help me? Pleaaase, pretty pretty please.”

“Of course we will help you” MJ scoffs. “Who do you think we are?” She never played a matchmaker before, but saw enough romantic comedies to know how to do it. “Tell us what you know!”

 

And he does, he tells them how he saw them first time together back when Thanos first came, how they worked together in Dad’s lab, sitting closer and closer to each other every time he came for visit, he even tells them about Tony’s de-aging and how Stephen told him, that he made a move and Tony rejected it.

“And you’re sure they should be together? I sounds like Stark doesn’t want it. Why would you force him?” MJ tries to be the voice of reason here, as usual.

“I’m sure he wants him too! You should see how they look at each other! And how he acted when he was a child! Always just Stephen, Stephen did this, Stephen did that.”

“Yeah dude, but it doesn’t have to mean that he is gay for him. I mean think about it, think about his reputation, I never heard of Tony Stark sleeping with a man, just tons and tons of women.” Ned points out in slightly awed tone. Peter sometimes honestly thinks that Ned doesn’t even see Tony the Iron Man, only the billionaire who slept with half of the world’s female population.

“Just because he is a man-whore, it doesn’t mean he can’t be bi, or gay and repressing it.” MJ cuts in.

“So you think he is secretly gay and to cover it he slept with every second playgirl?” Ned asks dubiously.

She scowls at him “I’m not saying that he must be gay and slept with those bimbos just to prove he isn’t. I’m saying that maybe he has an inclination towards both sexes, maybe he just never tried the other one.”

“Why? I reaaaly don’t think he would have problems finding guys to sleep with.” Peter states confused. Really, even though it is quite embarrassing to think about, he knows that Tony is like a sex-magnet, everyone wants him, everywhere he goes. He just needs to snap his fingers and there will be enough willing bodies.

“You know him best, I only know what I saw on TV. Why would he against a relationship with a man? I mean, if we assume you’re right and he really loves this Strange guy.”

“I don’t knoooow! That’s why I called you guys!”

“Think you idiot! You are one of the smartest people I know, you will figure it out, we need to know the reason otherwise we can’t devise a really effective plan.”

“Maybe… maybe he is afraid how it would affect the company? I mean the stocks…”

“Really you think he would care about that?” she rolls her eyes “That is bullshit! And Pepper Potts would never allow something like that to cause them problems. From what I’ve saw she would see it as an opportunity and make another billion or two out of it.” Peter just rolls his eyes, he is so used to her fangirling about Pepper. He really needs to ask Dad to introduce those two. MJ would shit kittens if she’d to find out that she will meet with her idol.

“His age?” he tries again “I mean he was born in the sixties, what if he is like a homophobe or something?”

“Isn’t Captain America gay? And he was born in the twenties, they killed people for being gay back then, no?” Ned points out “If he can get through that….”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. He never looked uncomfortable around them or now around Loki and Bruce…. Crap! I can’t think of anything else!”

“I can help!” a cheery, female voice peeps in.

All three of them jump, almost getting stuck on the ceiling, well one them does, but quickly jumps down, hiding his blush.

“What the hell FRI! How can you listen to us when we took the batteries out!”

“Well, do you really think that BOSS would let me rely on something so base as battery of a phone?” she sounds condescending as hell. Is she this disrespectful to everyone or just Pete?

“So why didn’t you say anything earlier?!”

“Well I didn’t know what you’ll be talking about so I was curious and then I wanted to know what you’ll come up with.” she says little bit petulantly.

The teenager rolls his eyes, of course she was curious. The A.I.s do not have an age per say, but sometimes he has a feeling like FRIDAY is a young girl, closer to his age than to Tony’s. “So do you have any idea what we can do?”

“Of course I have. When I take into consideration what I saw… and compare it with BOSS’ usual behavior and crosscheck it with the fics I’ve read…”

“Fics? What fics?” Peter asks confused.

“The ones about BOSS and Dr. Strange being together obviously.” she answers like it is the most obvious thing in the universe.

“You mean like fanfiction? Like gay fanfiction?” MJ almost squeals in glee, she doesn’t of course, it would ruin her image, but inside, inside she is bouncing excitedly.

The boys just look at each other dumbly. What are they talking about?

“Well, I need to know everything about him if I am to help him, don’t I?” FRIDAY answers. “So, in most of the stories I’ve read, the reason why he would be opposed to a same-sex relationship would be his father.”

“Howard? Why? Do you think it might me the reason in reality?”

“Based on the records I have on Howards Stark, I believe he was not very attentive father, but he had a lot of expectations for his heir. How he should behave, who he should date etc. It is not too far fetched to say that he might have find out about BOSS’ interest in the same sex and make sure that he won’t follow up on it.”

“So you agree that Tony is gay for Stephen?”

“I don’t have enough credible data to be sure, but I believe so, yes.”

“But if Howard is really the reason, how can we convince Tony that it okay now? That no one will think less of him?”

A truly evil smile blooms on MJ’s face. She is looking at her phone (she put it together again as the A.I. listened anyway). She taps her fingers quickly and then shows them the screen.

Peter’s face goes aflame, because what she shows him is a very realistic photo of Dad and Stephen  fu… ugh… in bed together. He quickly looks away, breathing sharply to recover from the shock, almost missing MJs last words “How about we show him how good they look together and how many supporters they’d have?”


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened in Kamar-Taj and a gross misuse of the 'F' word

Tony and Stephen walked through the Kamar-Taj for hours. Tony was skittish at first, very conscious not to stand or walk too close to the sorcerer, but he slowly relaxed and started to enjoy himself. Stephen didn’t try to touch him, did not grab his hand or anything and slowly he was able to stop thinking about their messed relationship and enjoy the wonders around him.

Most of the other sorcerers avoided them, leaving them alone, but there was a group of younger students, some of them as young as five, who followed them through the compound. They were trying to be discreet, but were failing miserably, especially one small boy who always forgot to hide like the others did when Tony turned towards them.

“It seems like you have a fan here.” Stephen chuckled.

Tony smiled “So badass little sorcerers like Avengers too? Are you mad because you’re not his hero?”

“Who says I am not?” Stephen scoffs teasingly “But they see me often, while they never met you before. I can understand their excitement.”

“How about we say hello?”

“We don’t have to if you feel uncomfortable with it. They won’t approach us on their own.”

Tony just rolls his eyes, yeah sometimes it can be really annoying to have crowds following him wherever he goes, but he would never refuse children. Plus, he wants to know why such young children are here and not at home with their parents.

“Hey kiddies, stop hiding and come to say hello!”

Their loud squeals must have been heard miles away. Around 20 children of different age and ethnicity jump from their hidey holes and run towards him. He laughs, their excitement feeding his own and sits into a shade of a large tree. The children surround him immediately, most keeping their distance at least a little bit, but the boy, the one that had trouble hiding before just barges through his friends and plops himself into Tony’s lap, firing questions right away.

“Guillermo, English please.” Stephen admonishes. There were some troubles within the temple when everyone was speaking their own language and The Ancient One decided, that all who want to study there must learn English and Chinese.

But he didn’t have to worry, Tony replies the kid in his native language without a hesitation. The Italian giving his voice a strange, seductive lilt and Stephen can feel goosebumps run up his back.

 

They spend an hour sitting under the tree talking and the kids showing Tony what they already know. As most of them are quite young, they do not know complicated spells, but Tony ohs and ahs making them feel like the most powerful sorcerers in the world.

Their fun is interrupter, when their teacher, Tung-Mei comes to collect them, they all whine, but obey, hugging Tony as hard as they can before leaving.

Stephen joins Tony on the bench, pulling the basket of food Tung-Mei brought closer. He lets Tony pick what he wants before saying “You are really good with them, you know?”

“Well I have a lot of experience. The Avengers have a lot of kiddie fans and I love to meet them, visiting schools and stuff. They always just… seeing them so happy just to see me… it’s just the best feeling in the world.” He says little bit wistfully as he takes a big bite from the pear he chose.

“You would be a great father, why didn’t you and Pepper….” He stops himself. Children and marriage weren’t things they’ve ever discussed. Stephen kind of expects Tony to jump up and ignore his question, but the genius surprises him.

Tony throws him a contemplative glance “What makes you think I would be good at it? You know my father was… far from perfect.”

“Just because he was an asshole, doesn’t mean you’d be as well. I saw you with them, I saw you with others and I know enough about your father to know you’re nothing like him.”

Tony feels warm feeling rise in his chest, so many people compared him to Howard, even today and it always hurt. He never wanted to be like him, he can’t even count how many times during his childhood he though _When I’ll have a child, I will never treat him like this! I will never do that to him etc._ Ever since Peter came into his life he could not stop thinking how it would be to have his own child, little boy or girl he would love and cherish, teach everything he knows and protect from all bad in the world.

“Tony…?” Stephen’s whisper interrupts his wishful thinking.

“Pepper… she never wanted to be a Mom, said it is not for her and I didn’t want to force her. I know how is it to grow up with a parent that doesn’t want you and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, especially my own child.”

“But she said you broke up with her?” Stephen half asks, half states.

Tony looks away. Breaking up with Pepper, this time for good, was one of the hardest things he’s ever done. She was his rock, his go to person for years, but they weren’t right for each other in the end. He may have even realize it already during the so called Civil War when they weren’t together for the first time. He handled it on his own, maybe not as well as she would, but he did. He just couldn’t resist when she came to him afterwards, while he was in the hospital with crushed rib cage.

“Tony?”

He is torn from his dark thoughts by Stephen’s quiet question. “I did not break up with her because she didn’t want kids.” he doesn’t want the sorcerer to think that.

“Then why did you?” Stephen lies his hand on top of Tony’s, eyes imploring him to say what he wants to hear, to say that he broke up with her, because he did not love her anymore, because his love belongs to Stephen now.

Tony looks him in the eyes and sees it, sees all of it and the uncomfortable feeling is back. He jumps from the bench, willfully ignoring the disappointed slump of the other’s shoulders. “I think I should head back, it’s getting quite late.”

“Wait! Please don’t go yet! You didn’t see the best of it yet.”

He wants to say no, to be strict and stand his ground, but Stephen looks so sad and Tony can’t bear to see him so disappointed. “Okay, so show me, but then I really need to go, the whole de-aging thing seriously messed up with my work schedule.”

“Okay, I promise I will get you back right after! But you need to see this! It’s a hall full of artifacts the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj collected through centuries and it is huge! We still don’t know what some of them do!” he grins at him, excited like a small kid.

His excitement is contagious and  Tony can feel a matching grin appear on his face.

 

They walk through the twisting halls and large rooms, deeper and deeper into the mountain, until they stop in from of an ornate double door, four times their height.

“Please do not touch anything while we’re inside, I wasn’t kidding when I said we don’t know what half of those things do.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m not Thor, I’m not gonna mess with your stuff.” Tony rolls his eyes, fondly remembering the story Stephen told him about Thor’s first visit to the New York’s Sanctum.

The room is enormous, even bigger than the library or the main Stark warehouse. There are shelves and shelves full of relics, small and big, some of them even have their own stands.

They walk through the room, Stephen explaining what is this and what is that. The tension is gone again and Tony is enjoying it immensely. He still kind of thinks that magic is just physics they cannot explain yet, but arguing with Stephen is always fun. They are deep in a ‘discussion’ about how a pair of boots can’t give you the ability to fly, no matter what mojo they contain when Tony spots a small table, obviously used by masters for studying of the artifacts they cannot take out of the room.

It is full of books thick as his wrist and golden thingies he won’t even try to identify. There is also a half full cup, black with a golden octopus drawn on it. “Really Stephen, you should talk to your people, they should know better than to leave food and drinks here, if someone did it in our R&D lab, he would be skinned alive.” he laughs, halfheartedly reaching for the cup.

“NO!” Stephen yells when he notices what grabbed his attention. He is able to catch his hand before it can reach the cup itself, but not soon enough.

Thick black octopus’ arms shot out of the cup, reaching for Tony.

The genius lets out a frightened yell, he would be certainly ashamed off, if he was not too busy dodging those disgusting slimy arms. He tries to dodge them left and right, but those fuckers always follow! Where the fuck is Stephen when his mojo is actually needed?

Before he can finish that thought properly, a wall of gold sparks envelops him, he is shoved to the ground and a very heavy sorcerer lands on top of him. Stephen wraps the shimmering shield around them, covering them from head to toes.

The ugly things slither over the golden sparks, trying to find their way under the edge, to reach the one who was stupid enough to wake them from their slumber. It goes like that for few more seconds, but finally, the guardian in the cup gives up and the arms retreat back into their cup, now again sitting innocently on the table.

Few seconds of utter silence follow and then “WHAT THE  ACTUAL FUCK WAS THAT?!” Tony yells straight into Stephen’s ear, making him cringe and glare.

“You moron! Didn’t you listen when I told you not to touch anything?!”

“I didn’t! I didn’t touch it!” Tony defends himself angrily “It just sprang out like some Cthulhu's demented little brother! I though it was a freaking cup someone left there! And how can you idiots just leave it there? Are you all out of your minds?”

“Everyone here can read it magical signature! No one would be so stupid as to mess with that, obviously!” Stephen explains in a tone people usually use when talking to an especially dimwitted child.

“But I can’t read this signature or whatever bullshit you mean! Oh, my god! What would happen to me if I actually touched it? It would eat me! I can’t die, I’m way too young to die!” he actually grabs Stephen’s lapels and starts to shake him.

Stephen bats his hands away, mock angry, but can’t keep his face straight for too long. The adrenaline in his body surged up when he saw his love in danger and without a proper outlet, it manifests itself into an almost hysterical laugh. “Oh my god, great Tony Stark almost eaten by a cup. Hahaha, a truly worthy end, hahaha.”

“Stop laughing! It was not funny! I almost shit my pants!” Tony starts to hit him wherever he can reach to get rid of the big lug now hysterically giggling on top of him.

Stephen laughs even harder, his hands reaching out feebly in attempt to stop the rain of punches falling on his shoulders and head “Yeah - I - know” he wheezes between his hysterical giggles “I - heard - you - scream. Hihihi. “Like - a - little - girl! Hihi.” he hides his face in Tony’s neck, trying to snuffle his entirely manly giggles.

Tony frowns thunderously, well pardon him if he does not find almost being eaten alive hysterically funny!

He lies there, quite offended by the other’s mirth, with a laughing pile of what used to be a Sorcerer Supreme on top of him.

Slowly, he starts to realize some things.

How pleasant Stephen’s weight is on top of him.

How instinctively he spread his thighs to accommodate Stephen’s bulk on top of him.

How pleasant is the feeling of Stephen’s face pressed into his neck, the little puffs of air as the man laughs ticking Tony’s sensitive skin.

Aaaand he is back to uncomfortable.

He extends one of his fingers, poking the other in the shoulder, hard. He tries again when Stephen does not react, just sighs contentedly and adds “Dude! Seriously you are heavy as hell!”

He isn’t, but he doesn’t need to know that.

Stephen raises his head a little, nesting it in palm of his right hand and looks down on Tony, mirth still shining in his eyes.

He stares at Tony, tears of joy running down his face and sighs in contend.

Tony gets uncomfortable under such a close scrunity and chooses to do the brave thing, he looks away, pouting. “You’re heavy you know.”

Nothing. Nada. No answer.

He pouts more and then feels something soft rub his cheek, he braves a quick glance and freezes. That thing, the soft touch was Stephen’s nose! His nose rubbing Tony’s poor defenseless cheek, while the sharp eyes watch his every micro-expression.

What the ever loving fuck?!

He lies there, frozen in shock, feeling his heartbeat surge up.

“Shhh.” Stephen must have feel it too, because he slowly starts to rub one hand over Tony’s sternum, trying to calm him down. “Everything is going to be okay now, no one will hurt you anymore, I promise. I will protect you.” he seals his promise with a small, lingering kiss, right next to Tony’s ear and the genius wants to scream.

He wants to scream because Stephen promised! He promised that he won’t do this, he won’t force him to acknowledge this… this… thing, between them. He wants to scream, yell and rage, but… but he doesn’t.

He doesn’t because Stephen did not stop after that one small peck. He continued, kissing  the line of Tony’s jaw, tongue peeking out from time to time as if to taste his skin, to assure himself this is real and not just a fantasy.

And hell, Tony wants it. He wants to grab Stephen, bury his hands into his hair and pull him closer, he wants to feel his full weight, he wants to explore his mouth.

He doesn’t do a thing. Just lies there, frozen like a deer in the headlights.

Stephen pulls away a little, just enough to look him in the eyes, to see whether he has permission to continue and Tony is not uncomfortable, well too much uncomfortable.

“Hey” Stephen breaths out and tips Tony’s chin so he is forced to look him in the eyes.

“Hi” Tony peeps, shyly.

Stephen studies him, he can see the fear in those beloved whiskey depths, he can see worry, but behind that, behind that he can see a spark. A spark of curiosity, maybe even want.

His head starts to slip out of the cradle of his right hand again, face getting closer and closer towards Tony’s. He keeps his eyes open, ready to pull back the moment Tony would say so, but he doesn’t.

Stephen stops, stops right above his mouth, he can feel their lips touching, just barely, but touching still. This is the last stop, last look into Tony’s eyes, last chance to back out.

Tony does neither and so with a deep breath, maybe the first in the last 30 seconds, Stephen dips his head and connects their lips fully.

The kiss is electrifying, sending shocks to their brains and short-circuiting them.

There is nothing else for them, no other people, no outside world, just them and the moment. Just this feeling of warm tongues sliding against each other, and skilled, little bit rough hands gliding against a smooth skin of back, chest and abdomen.

The space around them is no more, because who cares about the outside world, their universe is here, squeezed into the warmth between their bodies.

The time lost its meaning.

They may have been there for a minute, they may have been there for an hour. It doesn’t matter anymore.

Tony’s hands are firmly tangled in those salt-and-pepper locks he wanted to pull so many times, his brain completely offline as he guides Stephen’s head from his mouth and then down to his throat. He yearns for the scratch of his beard there, he wants him to suck a mark into his skin… to show it to the world….

Stephen obeys his silent commands. Overjoyed that he is finally allowed to have this, to touch, to kiss and caress. He lets Tony guide him, trailing kisses and small bites along the way.

They are both quiet, the silence interrupted just by wet sucking sounds or hard breathing and Stephen cannot stand it anymore. He starts to whisper, not thinking about the words he says, just releasing the thoughts hidden in his mind for so so long.

He talks about how perfect Tony is, how beautiful, how smart, how kind, how….

He tells him how he wants to kiss each centimeter of his body, how he will worship him if only Tony would allow it.

His brilliant mind is already ten steps ahead, already in a phase where he and Tony are established together, in place where they are together, forever and always and it slips out, those 3 small words, 8 letters and Tony, Tony freezes.

 

Bruce and Loki have a nice, quiet afternoon, finally alone without Hella or Thor breathing down their necks and trying to keep them apart. Hella took their relationship in stride, not wanting to put her new-found son under the pressure of parental disapproval. She had enough of that in her life to teach classes on the subject. She would have been practically harmless, if she didn’t constantly fight with Thor, who still wasn’t happy about his brother getting pregnant and in relationship with Bruce.

He liked Banner, he was his shield-brother, but he didn’t like that he got his brother pregnant before a proper courtship and honestly, Banner was okay, but Loki deserved much much more.

Thor was never shy about expressing his opinions and so the relationship between Bruce and he was quite strained.

But right now, both Thor and Heimdal are gone and Hella went with them and there is no one else in the Tower.

The couple reads the book Loki 'borrowed’ from Stephen, but Loki soon loses interest as the Kamaj-taj's magic is working differently than his manipulation of seidr and he gets annoyed because he can’t master each spell immediately.

So Bruce naturally tries to cheer him up, because annoyed and bored Loki equals troubles, major troubles.

Their make-out session is getting more and more heated when they are suddenly interrupted by a golden circle opening in front of the TV.

Absolutely livid Tony strides out, turns around and yells “I TOLD YOU TO FUCK OFF!!!” into the tear of the fabric of universe or whatever these portals actually are.

“Come on Tony, don’t be like that.” a quiet voice of the Sorcerer Supreme comes through, sounding strangely meek.

Tony whirls around, fingers clenched in fists. For a second he almost looks like he will storm back through the portal and try to squeeze the other’s neck. Instead, he lets out a wordless yell and grabs a nearby vase, probably expensive as hell, and throws in the general direction of where the portal was.

The portal quickly and wordlessly closed in the meantime.

The vase crashes into the TV and breaks into thousand pieces.

The two of them jumped from the sofa the moment the portal was opened, hastily closing trousers and scuffling a little because Loki tried to push Bruce behind his back to protect him from whatever might come through, while Bruce tried to do exactly the same to him.

They quickly let go of each other once they see there is no danger and turn to watch the spectacle.

“Tony! What the hell happened?” Bruce jumps forward once the sorcerer is gone “Did he hurt you? I will kill him!” Green lines already start to spread on his naked chest, but Tony's next words stop them.

“HURT ME? HE FUCKING KISSED ME!” the genius yells and starts toward the bar “HE KISSED ME AFTER HE PROMISED HE WON’T DO ANYTHING!” he adds when he sees Bruce's corners twitch and Loki's eyes roll.

“He did more than just a simple kiss didn’t he?” Loki, ever the more observant of the two, states. He can see the little suction marks on the genius neck, he can see how disheveled he looks. “Tell me Mr. Stark, did you finally put out and now you’re freaking out?” Loki laughs meanly at his own joke, pleased.

Bruce is too curious to chastity him, instead he just looks at Tony, who stands there gaping like a fish, expectantly. “Well? He prompts when his friend does not say a word. “Did you?”

Tony sputters something unintelligible, but manages to shake his head.

“Oooh, why not?” Bruce asks as if he is genuinely disappointed, which turns out to be true when he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a twenty and hands it to his lover, who is gloating behind him “I told you he would be too oblivious and stubborn to put out.”

“What?” Tony decides to rejoin the conversation, too shocked to remain silent “Brucie bear? Did you bet on me and Stephen .... you know?”

“Fucking Tony, the word you looking for is fucking” Bruce says, unusually forward. Tony decides that he really dislikes Loki’s influence on his gentle friend. “I hoped that you will finally pull your head out of your ass and admit, that you’re head over heels for him.”

“I am NOT!” he is shocked to see them both roll their eyes almost simultaneously.

“ You're such a drama queen Stark.” Loki, the biggest drama queen of them all, scoffs.

“Am not!”

Bruce can see that this is going nowhere and fast, so he grabs a whisky bottle from the bar behind him, two glasses and heads towards the elevator. “Hey! Where are you going?”

“To the Hulk room, you and me are going to get smashed tonight! I never transformed while drunk, but I really wouldn’t want to taunt fate, hence the Hulk room.”

Tony doesn’t mind one bit, getting smashed is exactly what he needs right now. He grabs two more bottles, because come on Bruce! One whisky is not enough to drown his sorrows.

“And what about me?” Loki pouts behind them, trying hard not to look hurt.

“You, my love, will not be drinking with us” Bruce announces, but before Loki can get mad and or sad, he adds “It wouldn’t be good for the baby, I however hid a tube full of your favorite ice cream in the room, just for you.”

“Strawberry?”

“Of course my love.”

After that, Loki ushers them towards the elevators reaaaly quickly.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a shorter chapter, some self-indulgent crack I need to lift my spirits after watching the Endgame last week

While Tony is too busy destroying his liver, the kids devise a plan and what a plan it is!

Peter already knows, that approaching Tony directly will get him nowhere. The genius would close up, lock himself in his lab and not speak to anyone but FRIDAY for days.

No, it can’t be anyone Tony knows who brings up the topic. The questions need to come from the outside.

So what will a group of highschoolers and one scarily unscrupulous A.I. do?

Well, use the power of internet of course. There are enough stories and pictures about Avengers on the web, different pairing and ships, all they need to do is to convince the world that one of them is true. Once they get it trending on twitter, everyone will soon follow and Tony will have to face the fact, that Stephen and he are made to be together.

MJ does the drawing, nothing too daring, just a simple kiss and Peter shares it on his official Spiderman Twitter and Instagram accounts, with a capture ‘Walked on them last week, awkwaaard. Almost like catching your parents during sex! :P’

The spiderman’s accounts have millions of followers, but they do not want to leave anything to a chance, so FRIDAY creates millions of fake accounts, filling them with random stuff, really, no one who would check them would ever think them fake and she uses every single one to spread the #IronStrange. Soon it spreads like a wildfire.

All they need to do is wait.

 

_ The Stark Tower, several hours and bottles later... _

 

“Lokiiii, Lowkeeey, Looo-”

“One more word Stark and I’ll rip your tongue out and feed it to you.” the aforementioned God of Lies growls.

He is in a bad mood, he is sleepy, his tummy hurts from all the ice cream he ate and the two drunk idiots decided, that he looks too lonely on the sofa and they simply must join him there. The sofa is nowhere near big enough to fit all three of them, so he is pinned down with two inebriated geniuses on top of him, mumbling something about some doctor. Every time he tries to ask them who is it, they just start yelling Who? Who? Who? And giggling uncontrollably.

He gave up on following their insane babbling some time ago and tried to go to sleep, which obviously didn’t go unnoticed by Stark, hence the threat and his currently poking of Bruce, demanding to do something about his ‘baby mama’.

Sometimes he wishes, he never even heard of Midgard.

“Shhhhh! Don’t call him baby mama! He hates it!” he is glad to hear Bruce defend him, only for him to ruin it in a second by saying “He is my Lokitty!”

“Awww, so cuuute!” the other idiot gushes like a thirteen year old girl.

“What did you want Stark?” Loki decides to step in, he already saw the ridiculous pictures Bruce’s pet name was based off. He does not need a reminder of midgardian perversions.

“What? I wanted what?”

Loki rolls his eyes, hard. “You wanted to ask me something…”

“I did? Really?” before the god can slap some sense in him, he suddenly remembers “ Oh! Oooooh! I know, I know, I know!” he starts to bounce in his seat (read Loki’s left leg) like the overgrown toddler he is. He bends closer to Bruce, their foreheads touching, more for balance than anything else and whispers, really loudly “I was thinking-”

“Did it hurt?” Bruce interrupts, giggling.

“Moron!” the other moron shoves him, Bruce of course retaliates and soon they are poking at each other, almost dislodging themselves off of Loki’s lap.

“Enough! Both of you! Share your idea or shut up Stark!”

Tony grimaces in what he probably thinks is an adorable pout, but he really just looks like some half-retarded specimen of fish. “You’re so mean to me Lokitty! I am Brucie’s best friend and if you won’t be nicer to me, I will tell him to dump your sorry ass!” his index finger almost takes Loki’s eye out. The god needs to suppress the very strong urge to just bite it off and storm away, his patience wearing thin. The only thing keeping him from storming out is Bruce’s warm mass snuggled into his right side and the very likely concern, that if left to their own devices, these two would do something incredibly stupid.

He takes a deep breath or two and with usually unseen patience asks “Please tell me your idea.”

“It’s about Thor’s hammer!” Tony states, clearly very proud of himself. Why would he be proud, Loki has no idea.

“Thor’s hammer is gone, remember?” Loki is just trying to be reasonable, but all it earns him is a glare.

“The ax, Stormtaser, whatever!” he flails his hands, almost toppling back. “It doesn’t have the same mojo, right?”

“You are right” Loki confirms hesitantly, the Stormbreaker works differently than Mjolnir.

“So we can lift it?” the genius asks with a devious smile.

“WE SHOULD STEAL IT!” Bruce yells from the top of his lungs and straight into Loki’s ear.

Stark replies just as loudly “YES! THAT’S WHAT I WANTED TO SAY! LET’S GO NOW!”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Loki chides as both of them try to scramble off of his lap. They can barely stand, Thor will hear them from a mile away. “I am not opposed to the ide-”

He is interrupted by Bruce, spinning around and plopping back into his lap again “You are so good to us baby.” he manages to plant a sloppy, off-target kiss to the god’s mouth.

“Stop sucking his face Bruce! We’re on a mission!”

Loki pushes Bruce off, supporting him till he can stand at least somewhat straight. “What I was trying to say is, that I can just teleport into his room and get you the ax-”

“NO!” they yell almost simultaneously.

“We gonna get it!”

“Yes! We are ninjaaaaas!”

“Yeah, ninjaaaas!”

Loki just stares, they were barely standing before, but now they start to flail their arms and legs around... posing? Is this some weird midgardian thing he does not understand? Probably.

“You stay here Lokitty! We’ll bring it to you, you see!”

 

And so it happens, that two, not so sneaky genius ninjas and one annoyed, but currently invisible God of Lies start their journey through the Tower and into the bedroom of the current King of Asgard. They tip toe, they hide, Bruce even attempts a roll over the couch. Despite all this bumbling and fumbling they somehow (magically) get to their destination without anyone noticing and stop in front of Thor’s room.

“FRIDAY open the door!” Tony whisper-shouts towards the ceiling, while Bruce presses a palm to his mouth, doing his best to stifle the almost hysterical fit of giggles.

The door slowly, quietly opens.

After some not so quiet shoving in the doorway, they both successfully sneak into the room, Loki still invisible behind them.

Thor is snoring in the bed, with Heimdall at his side. The Watcher’s eyes blink open and zoom on the two geniuses, not that they notice. Loki quickly lifts an index finger to his mouth, he knows Heimdall is able to see through his spell, and receives almost unperceivable nod in response.

It is really unbelievable that Thor, who prides himself to be a warrior, is able to sleep through all of that whispering, giggling and fumbling. Luckily, the ax is not so hard to find, it is on the ground, within Thor’s reach. The hard part is getting it out of the room, the weapon is simply too heavy for anyone who isn’t an Asgardian to lift and so they have to awkwardly pull it behind them. They grunt loudly with each pull, completely oblivious to Heimdall’s amused look or the presence of their invisible protector and finally get it out of the room. FRIDAY closing the door silently behind them.

 

Loki follows silently, wanting to see what they will do with it. He helps them a little bit, unnoticed of course. He would leave them in it, but he does not want to take care of them tomorrow, hungover and with broken backs.

They manage to drag the ax all the way down to the communal kitchen and after few unsuccessful attempts to hack into the kitchen table, they decide to check the blade and start to chop anything and everything they are able to find. Luckily, they cannot actually lift it, so they stick with having it on table and throwing things on top of the blade. Loki is worried at first that they will chop off their fingers, but he calms down after several successful rounds of cutting and lies on the couch for a little cat nap.

That was a mistake. Big mistake.

He realizes it the moment something wet and sticky hits his face and left arm. He opens his eyes and shoots out of the couch.

The kitchen table is now a sticky cemetery of food and kitchen appliances. Is that a toaster cut in a half? Good thing it wasn’t on. But the biggest mess is done by the apparently full bottle of coke those two idiots decided to split in a half. Full. Bottle. Of COKE!

“You, you imbeciles!” Loki can’t hold his ire any longer, he materializes in front of them, yelling loud enough to wake up the death. They startle and look at him with wide eyes, both soaked to the bone. “Whose brilliant idea it was to split open a bottle of FIZZY drink?!”

Of course they both point at each other and Loki must again regret ever learning about this shithole of a planet.

“I HAD ENOUGH WITH YOU TWO! NO ALCOHOL FOR YOU EVER AGAIN! YOU’RE GOING TO BED!”

“Awww Brucie Bear, your baby mama is mean. Do something!” Stark flails his hand, hitting Bruce’s shoulder.

Bruce squints at Loki, his eyes barely open anymore “Don’t be such a bore baby. You wanna play too? I have your favorite toy right here” he grabs his own crotch crudely “come here and play with it.” he winks lasciviously and if Loki wasn’t carrying his child, he would kill him right then and there.

Instead, his rage builds up more and more every second those two morons stand there, grinning at him like loons. He can feel the crackling of his own seidr at the tips of his fingers. He must release it somewhere before he goes truly mad. “FRIDAY, do not report this to anyone and keep everyone off of this floor” he says quickly before turning towards the row of floor length windows and just letting his rage overflow. A green burst of energy flies out of his hands, destroying everything in its path and breaking the windows into billions of tiny pieces. His yell of absolute outrage and frustration must have been heard all the way to Brooklyn.

It takes maybe 30 seconds for him to get in a state when he won’t kill them both upon sight, but once the worst rage passes, he feels much better.

He turns back to the two geniuses “Bed, now!”

“I don’t wanna!” Stark whines, while Bruce skips towards him, probably thinking Loki wants to play with ‘his favorite toy’.

“I don’t care what you want. You’re going to bed, right now!” if he wants to act like a three years old, he will treat him like a three years old.

“Don’t be mean, or I will take Brucie from you!”

“You could try, but why would he choose you over me?” he squeezes Bruce, who is now plastered against his side like an octopus “I am so much superior.” he sniffs, almost like an afterthought.

“Ha! You wish! I am Tony fucking Stark! King of the world! I can do anything I want!”

“Really? Can you do this?” Loki extends the hand that is not currently busy holding Bruce upright and shows him his palm and the green flames dancing there.”

“Pche! Magic! I don’t need your stupid magic tricks! I can make the strongest sorcerer in the universe come running and do anything I want!”

“Really? Is that so?” Loki plays surprised, he knows Strange would come running if Stark just winked at him, but he wants to see how far is the man willing to go to prove his truth. 

“Yes so!”

“Then prove it!”

“What?” Tony asks dumbly.

“I said prove it.” Loki’s grin is downright mean, he knows Stark does not have the guts to call the sorcerer. Not after the scene he made just few hours back.

“I… I… watch me you prick!” he quickly grabs a nearby Starkpad, rolls up his shirt and pulls his pants down, taking a picture of his bare chest and dick. “FRIDAY, send that to Stephen!”

Loki can’t do more than blink dumbly. Did he really just send a picture of his naked penis to the sorcerer? Didn’t he claim he is not interested in male partners? Loki is half tempted to stop the A.I. from sending the picture, but well… he IS the God of Chaos and this new development promises looots and looots of beautiful opportunities to stir some, especially after Bruce yells: “And write him come and get some tiger!”

 

In the end, Loki decides to be a benevolent god. He transports both of them (and the stupid ax) into Stark’s room, depositing them in the bed. He even sends a note to Strange, warning him not to come to the Tower.

He changes a chair in the corner in a bed, he refuses to sleep in the same bed as those two drunks and falls asleep with a devious smile, already thinking about the chaos that will erupt in the morning.


	27. Chapter 27

Peter is happily swinging towards the school when he sees it.

Whole line of windows on the Tower is gone!

Pure panic slams into him, making his breath hitch.

His brain shortcuts and he almost smacks into a wall before his instincts kick in and he swings in a great arch towards the place he considers his second home.

“Karen! Alert everyone! The Tower is under attack!”

He does not even hear her reply over the sound of his frantically beating heart, too busy swinging through the now empty windows and pushing panicked thoughts away. What if something happened to Tony? What if he is late, just like he was too late to save Uncle Ben? He can’t go through that again, he CAN’T!

In the penthouse, the communal floor looks like a hurricane went through it, the furniture is obliterated and glass is everywhere. He can hear a roar, sounding a lot like Thor coming from upstairs, so he rushes towards the stairs.

He finds Thor, pacing in the hallway, dressed in his full armor yelling angrily in some language Pete cannot understand, but sees no danger here. No Tony.

He spins away quickly, he must find Tony, he must see that he is okay, that he is not…. NO! He can’t think about it. Tony is Iron Man, the best of the Avenger, he cannot be dead. Just can’t!

He speeds through the familiar hallways, the sound of his own blood rushing is the only thing he can hear.

He barges onto the floor that is Tony’s own and stops in his tracks.

It is eerily silent there, everything looks so… normal. There are no signs of struggle, of the carnage he found downstairs, but there is something weird going on. He can feel it.

He realizes, he was standing there like an idiot while Dad could be hurt or… no, he again refuses to even think about that. He rushes towards Tony’s bedroom, barging in, half terrified of what he will find.

The room is empty, spotlessly clean without any signs of struggle. Where is Tony?! What if he’s been kidnapped? What if he won’t see him again? He can feel the panic flooding his system again, sharp prick of tears in his eyes. He chokes back a sob “Come on Peter! You’re an Avenger, you can’t fall apart now!” he mumbles under his breath, pinching his arm hard. “You need to find him, save him! What if they torture him, while you’re acting like a little kid?!”

The though of Tony, tortured by some faceless men, makes his hands tremble, but it also makes his focus sharpen again. This is no time to fall apart, Tony would not fall apart if the situation was reversed, he would do anything to find and rescue Peter and that is exactly what Peter will do for him. He will find him, he will rescue him and he will kill anyone who dared to hurt his family!

“Karen! Where are the others?”

“The Avengers left the Compound, ETA 3 minutes, War Machine is with them. Mr. Odinson is on his floor in a ... discussion with Heimdall of Asgard, I do not understand the language he is using. I… I cannot reach FRIDAY.” the AI finishes, unsure. “But I cannot detect any foreign personnel on the Avengers floors.” she adds, as if trying to calm him a bit.

FRIDAY is down, Peter is now fully convinced that someone took Tony, someone smart and powerful enough to disable his AI.

The adrenaline coursing through his veins makes his whole body shake, he cannot just wait there, he must do something, he must move. “I’m gonna wait for them on the landing platform, he informs his AI, tell Thor to get there as well…. Did you call Stephen?”

Stephen will help him, he would do anything to bring Tony back to them.

“He is not answering my calls.”

“Then try Wong!” Peter will regret his tone later, he didn’t mean to be rude to her, but he couldn’t care less now. All that matters is finding Tony as quickly as possible.

He runs to the rooftop and can spot the quinjet the moment he gets there, it is still a little bit away, but that at least gives him time to wipe his tears off and compose what he is going to say to them the moment they arrive.

The War Machine lands first with a thud. “Peter! What the hell happened? Where is Tony?” the helmet folds in, revealing Rhodey’s concerned face and Peter… Peter crumbles.

“I… I don’t know” he squeezes out between sobs. “Some- someone…” Rhodey is at his side in a second, metal arms of his suit reaching around the trembling teenager hesitantly.

“Hey, heeey kiddo, shhh, it’s okay, everything will be okay.” he taps his back little awkwardly.

“It’s not!” Peter is not proud of himself, acting like a small child instead the almost adult, the hero that he is. “He is gone, someone took him away!” he bawls.

“What? Who? Stop crying and tell us what you know!” The Avengers exited the quinjet in time to hear Peter’s last words and Captain Asshole decided that now is the time to open his big mouth.

He shrinks back a bit at Rhodey’s murderous glare, but squares his jaw quickly, determination shining in his eyes “We don’t have time for this! If Tony was truly taken-”

“WHAT?!” Stephen, who just portaled in, almost stumbles when he hears those words.

Peter lets go of Rhodey the second he hears his voice and throws himself in his direction. “Stephen you must help me save him, I can’t lose him please!” he begs urgently, face hidden in the sorcerer’s shoulder. He misses the look of pure terror on the older man’s face.

  


Wong is reading in the library, chatting amicably with Vision from time to time until it is almost dinner time. His curiosity is killing him, he really wants to know if those two idiots finally pulled their heads out of their respective asses and finally admitted they love each other, but he fancies himself a patient man. He wants Stephen come to him not the other way around, it would not be good if he showed him how much he cares. 

He felt Stark leave earlier in the afternoon and he expected Stephen to find him right away, but the other sorcerer didn’t.

Well, he is probably too busy writing Mr. Stephen Stark into his secret diary or whatever, he thinks meanly, but he must admit that he worries, even if just the tiniest bit. He gives it another twenty minutes, but there is still no sight of the Sorcerer Supreme and he had enough. He wants to know what is happening and he wants to know it now!

He steps into the courtyard, catching the first Master that passes by “Did you see Stephen?”

The man nods and solemnly points westward.

Now that he is focused, he can hear a faraway rumbling and see flashes of light in the distance. It is in the old training area, the one they use for more dangerous spells that cannot be practiced within the walls of the temple without disturbing or endangering the others.

Crap, if Stephen is there, it does not mean anything good.

Wong portals closer, but not directly onto the platform to avoid startling his friend. He watches him for a minute from the shadows. 

The ground is littered with remnants of the training dummies, obliterated into pieces. Stephen is standing in the middle of the mess, a giant ball of light between his palms. His expression is pained and his hands are trembling, but his focus never strains from it. Wong is no genius, but even an imbecile would see that his afternoon with Stark didn’t end up well.

He decides to make his presence known “You want to talk about it?”

What he did not expect was Stephen spinning around and releasing the magic in his direction. He jumps away, but the ball of energy crashes into the mountain side, creating a crater and starting a small avalanche of rocks.

“Hey! Watch out!” Stephen just glares wordlessly before spinning away and snapping his hands to create another ball of light.

“So you fucked up again." it is not a question.

Stephen cannot hold back a flinch.

"So? You will apologize, he will forgive you. End of story."

Stephen stares into the sphere he created, trying to push back the tears of frustration and anger. Tony won't forgive him, not this time. Not when he finally saw what an asshole he really is.

He promised not to push, not to make another move and how long did that promise last? Two hours? Three? Why did he do it? Why he couldn't just hold his urges back? He is not a hormone driven teenager! He knew Tony did not want it, but he reached out and took it anyway.

"It's not that easy, he will not forgive me, not this time."

"What did you do?" the question has a hint of anger in it. Stephen might be his friend, but it doesn't mean he won't kick his ass if he did something truly horrible.

"I told him that I love him." he confesses quietly.

"I don't see what the problem is. Are you mad because he didn't say it back? You should not push him..."

Stephen's laugh is almost painful to hear. The sound is rough, as if it is scratching his throat on its way out. "If only. He told me to fuck off, to never bother him again, to-" he stops, unable to repeat the words that will haunt him.

"So you told him you love him and he told you to fuck off? In those words?" Wong's voice is full of disbelief. He met Stark only a few times and yes, he can be kind of a dick, but this doesn't sound like him.

"Well..., I kissed him before saying it, but he let me! He looked really into it and then I got carried away and... and it, it just slipped out and he freaked out!" he finishes lamely. He knows that it is not everything that happened and Wong clearly knows it too, but he doesn't want to tell him about the broken promise. It's enough that Tony hates him now, he doesn't want Wong to be mad as well.

But Wong doesn't say a thing, he simply turns around and disappears between the rocks.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Stephen sputters furiously "You can't just turn away from me like that!" he waits, but hears no response, it is as if he is alone "Asshole!" his blood boils, he though of Wong as a friend and he just turns his back on him? He will show him!

He starts towards the rocks where he saw the traitor disappear, but before he can make more than two steps, Wong reappears pointing a finger at him. "You! Stay where you are! I need to make a phone call, I cannot deal with this shit alone!"

Stephen considers following him against the 'order', but Wong can be... well, scary when he wants to be and even though a good fight could help him take his mind off of his current situation, he used a lot of his magic destroying the dummies around him. And Wong would never let him live it down if he lost.

And so he waits. And waits and waits, until the other sorcerer comes back.

He doesn’t come back alone though, Christine walks out too, her eyes flying around curiously, until they land on Stephen.

She takes in the rumpled clothes and defeated look and simply opens her arms for him.

 

They decide, well Christine and Wong decide, that it would be best if Stephen stayed a few days away from Kamar-Taj and his responsibilities and he is too numb to argue. He follows her back to her apartment, flopping himself on the sofa and grabbing a remote.

“No, no, no, I did not bring you here so you can sit around all day like a couch potato, we’re going out.”

“I don’t wannaa.” he whines, he is in no mood to be sociable. He agreed to come here to avoid more people and the last thing he wants is to go out.

“Come on sweety, lying on a couch all day watching daytime television won’t help anything. Trust me, I tried that and in the end I was more depressed than before.”

He flashes her a guilty look, he knows she is referring to the time the two of them broke up.

She sighs, sitting next to him and pulling his head to rest on her shoulder “I know it hurts. It is never easy to be rejected by someone you love, but you must believe me. It **will** get better. You just need to bite down and get through it, day by day. You will feel better eventually, I promise.” she presses a kiss into his hair “And who knows, maybe he will realize his mistake, maybe he will show up in front of your doors admitting he loves you too.” she finishes wistfully. It was her dream for such a long, long time. A dream that one day, Stephen will be standing in front of her doors, sharp suit and a bouquet of roses in his arms.

“I… I can’t do this anymore, Christine. I really love him and I promised myself that no matter what, I’ll be there for him. I will wait and I won’t lose hope, but… I did. I do not believe he can love me anymore. And not just because I broke the promise I gave him, but because… he, he doesn’t seem to mind if he does not see me, he could be content if we never meet again, while I am here, pinning after him like some lovesick puppy. Always waiting for him, always hoping. I can’t live like that anymore, it’s not fair!” he finishes, angry tears streaming down his face. “I did everything I could! Everything!” he slumps against her side. “I am done.” he finishes numbly.

She looks down on him, clueless at what to do. She knows she should encourage him not to lose hope, she should make him believe again, but…. She loves him, more than anyone and maybe if he lets go of his love for Stark, maybe he can learn how to love her again. They were good together, perfect even. They could have that again.

Isn’t the fact that he comes to her with his problems a sign that he could still love her?

Christine takes his hand into hers gently “Maybe we could just go away, take a vacation, relax… remember the small village we visited while at conference in Rome? The one we always talked about visiting again?”

He looks up at her desperately. He knows it won’t help, running away never does, but she looks so hopeful, so excited. He doesn’t have the heart to say no. “What about your shift?”

“I will have to stay this week, Weber is on vacation, but we can go on Monday.”

“Okay.”

 

Christine assigned him some tasks before she left for her shift, book the tickets, buy sunscreen, things like that and even if he felt like a black cloud is hanging above his head, her enthusiasm was catchy and it took his mind off of the pain in his chest, of the call of gin he knew she hid in the cupboard.

Everytime he stopped, everytime he did not focus on things he needs to do, his mind went back to Tony.

To how beautiful he was, disheveled from fighting the guardian, lying underneath him. How perfectly they fit together, their bodies melting together like they are always meant to be just like that.

To how he got angry, how he repaid his confession of love with hateful words and slurs, how he ran away.

Needless to say, Stephen did not sleep for a minute that night.

He was laying awake, staring at the shadows on the ceiling. Should I just give up? The question runs through his mind on a loop. He can’t imagine it, can’t imagine his world without the bright star that is his Tony, for years now his life revolved around him. It will break him if he loses him, but isn’t it what love is supposed to be? If you love someone, if you truly do, shouldn’t you be willing to do anything for them, even let them go?

If he just knew that Tony would be happier without him, if he would be certain…. But there is still this little voice, the little devil on his shoulder whispering that Tony needs him, even if he doesn’t know it yet, or doesn’t want to admit it.

The phone beeps with an incoming message and Stephen squints into the bright light of the screen.

He almost swallows his tongue when he sees the message. It is Tony, well part of him at least.

His eyes go wide, breathing speeding up at the sight of Tony’s dick and toned abdomen.

“Oh my god” he whispers, too shell shocked to anything else just stare. His mind is blank.

He has no idea how long he sits there. What should he do now? What does it mean?

Why would Tony do it? He said he hates him, never wants to see him again and now he sends this? Is this some joke?

Stephen quickly checks the number, he knows it by heart by now, but it is the right one, the picture really did come from Tony, well FRIDAY.

Should he go to the Tower? Maybe, maybe the genius changed his mind and this is his way to tell him? Shy hope starts to grow inside him. Maybe….

The phone beeps again and Stephen scrambles to get it, tangling in the sheets in the process. He types in the code with shaking fingers, but the message is not another picture, nor it’s the invitation he was hoping for

**_”DON’T  COME, IT WAS JUST A DARE”_ **

He should be angry, he knows that. Being toyed with like this after he confessed his love should want to make him scream and rage, but instead all he feels is pain, his chest is constricting, trying to keep in the sobs threatening to escape. He cannot bear the thought of anyone hearing him, of Christine coming to the room trying to comfort him.

He is pathetic, pining after a man that doesn’t give a shit about him, who is able to smile and joke with him, give him hope and then turn around and tell him he never wants to see him again, to ignore him for weeks.

Tony is his weakness, his Achilles’ heel. He would do anything for him, but this is it. He is done.

The message was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, he is not able to continue like this.

He will leave, he wants to leave right now, just open a portal and hide somewhere far away, only the promise he gave Christine keeps him in. He can stay till Monday, he IS strong enough, but then, then they will leave and no matter what, he won’t be coming back.

  


He is shuffling like a zombie around the apartment, sipping at his coffee listlessly when his phone starts to ring.

Peter. So the boy found out. Great.

He silences his phone instead of picking up, not willing to deal with Peter’s earnest questions and pleas, not willing to disappoint the teenager again.

He frowns when the call ends and starts to ring again almost immediately.

Should he answer? What if something happened?

The call ends again before he can make a decision and doesn’t ring again. Well, so nothing important then. Stephen goes back to staring out of the window.

He is interrupted by a sound of portal opening behind his back just a few minutes later. Wong steps out. “Why are you not answering your phone?” he asks accusingly.

“Who would call me? Christine is at work and you don’t use your phone except for Twitter” he smirks.

“Ha, ha, very funny. The boy called you, he needs your help.”

“My help, why? Isn’t he an Avenger? Can’t he call… them?” he wanted to say Tony, but the sharp pain of just thinking about the man, made him change his words.

“Apparently something happened at the Tower, his A.I. is mobilizing all forces. Including us, so let’s go.”

He turns around and opens a portal, ushering Stephen first. They step out at the roof of the Stark tower just in time to hear Peter sobbing about Tony being taken.

Stephen must have said something because all the gathered Avengers turn his way and Peter practically throws himself in his direction. The boy is shaking like a leaf and Stephen can feel his hot tears through his shirt.

He looks around at the others, willing them to explain, but they are all just staring at him, well at Peter.

In the end it is Wong who interrupts the silence “So what happened?”

“We don’t know, we got an alert from Peter’s AI about emergency in the Tower, so we suited up and got here as soon as possible.” Rhodey explains “We tried to contact FRIDAY on our way here, but she is not responding. All we found here is Peter, who was waiting on the roof and we noticed line of windows out at the common floor. We did not go in yet.”

“Yes, the boy was unable to say what happened” Natasha said prissily. “But it seems that there was an ambush and Stark was taken.”

Stephen pulls in a sharp breath. Why do these things always happen to Tony? He bends his head, trying to catch Peter’s eyes “Hey Pete, look at me please.” The teenager does so reluctantly, eyes puffy from crying “How do you know Tony was taken? Where are the others? Bruce, Thor….”

“I… I was on my way to school when I saw the missing windows.” he coughs few times to release the tightness of his throat “I came here and the common room is in pieces, everything is smashed up! I found Thor on his floor, he was pacing and yelling something, but he was alone so I went and tried to look for Dad.” he gulps “there is no one on his floor, everything is quiet and there is something there, I don’t know, but it made my skin crawl.” he confesses, trying to remember the weird feeling he had when on Tony’s floor. It wasn’t bad, just… it was as if someone was trying to push him away from there. There was just something strange in the air….

“So you called us because you couldn’t find your Daddy? He is probably drunk somewhere.” Clint scoffs. “Stark was always-”

“Finish that sentence and you will finally find out if you can fly, birdbrain” Rhodey interrupts angrily, one hand up and ready to blast him right off of that roof. He had enough of their badmouthing of his best friend, he won’t tolerate another bad word.

There are few tense seconds, Nathasha’s hand slowly inching towards the knife in her boot, Steve stepping between Rhodey and Clint….

“Hey! We have more important stuff to do than cock measuring” Bucky growls “There is something amiss here, otherwise the A.I. would work and Thor wouldn’t be yelling like crazy downstairs.” They all suddenly realize the faint sound of the berserker's rage “So cut it off and let’s go inside. Rhodes, I’m assuming you have the access code.”

Rhodey just nods sharply, deciding to deal with Clint and the others later, Barnes is right, they have more pressing matters at hand.

He punches in the code (Dummy’s birthday, which come on Tony, adorable) and storms in.

Thor’s bellows are much stronger there, but they cannot distinguish the words. It happened a few times already, usually during a fight with his siblings, when the Thunderer got so angry that his concentration slipped and his Allspeak stopped working.

They rush towards him and find him on the common floor, treading among the destroyed furniture, throwing a chair or table from time to time as if he is searching for something. Heimdall simply stands in the kitchen corner, his expression as impenetrable as ever.

“Thor! What the hell?” Steve is the first to break his shock at the sight.

The asgardian spins around, but instead of smiling and greeting them as usual, he advances them with, well, quite thunderous frown, bellowing something they do not understand.

“They do not understand you, my King” Heimdall deadpanes from the kitchen, cool as a cucumber.

The Thunderer throws him a dirty look, but closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, his next words are in english “WHICH ONE OF YOU TOOK IT?!” well, they might be in english, but it does not mean they make a lick of sense.


End file.
